Novaus: Determination Op
by Tsuike Novaus
Summary: Brandon had a normal life, or at least, he thought he did, or maybe he really didn't. In a universe where limits are only defined by oneself, follow him as he begins his quest to be the hero... Note: The repeated NOVAUS is a separator for changing place.
1. Prologue

Uragin, a planet in a constant state of war. There is no civil war on this planet, but a war from some unknown source. The machines, bio mechanical creatures wanting to dominate the galaxy.

These were the dominant species in the galaxy.

The machines were always trying to attack the Uras at their weakest point: when it was time to switch rulers. To make things worse, there were those who wanted to rule that planet and would even betray their people and family to do so.

Fortunately for the galaxy, the royal family always won, keeping Uragin intact.

However, things were different this time around. Time was a factor.

"They're starting to catch up, ma'am!" said the surveillance officer.

"Continue to provide cover fire!"

A bright flash enveloped the adjacent battleship.

"The Salade has been destroyed!"

"What about the crew?"

"They've all been killed in the resultant explosion! The fifth dimension space around the ship collapsed upon them!"

"And what about the princess?"

"Just before the explosion, we lost our lock on her energy signature. There was a time/space anomaly in the area. Instead of it steadily disappearing, it appears to have split!"

"We just received a transmission from dispatch! Tsuna also seems to have left! She launched after one of the energy paths."

An explosion rocks the ship.

"Intruders in the ship! They're on decks 5-1 through 5-12, headed for the bridge."

"Launch all escape pods, all of you, get off the ship, they're after us!"

"Sorry ma'am, we can't do that. We'll protect you with our lives. It's our duty."

"Who cares? The lives of the people are more important than a handful of royalty! GET OFF NOW!"

"No! We will protect you! Computer, set all systems to be controlled automatically!"

"Confirmed. Beginning evacuation process."

"Let's go! We'll slow them down, you get out of here."

Novaus: Determination OP Prologue Break

Silence envelops the bridge. A woman carrying to babies slinks into her chair. "Computer, they're so special, aren't they?" A holographic woman appears. "Yes, my lady. My scans indicate so. What are you going to do now?" Sighing, the woman says, "Who is left on the ship?" "My scans indicate that the intruders are advancing toward this point. All of the crew are dead. All escape pods are still in the ship." "Idiots. We aren't more important. Our lives are meaningless without yours. I guess, to ensure these two children's survival, I should split them up. I'll take the younger boy. Launch the girl along with half of the other space pods. They should cover her escape. Send a short coded message to the queen stating where she is. Until they learn to cover their power, this is the best we can do." "Understood, milady." After all we've been through, I can't believe I have to leave you like this, Carrie." "I'm sorry I wasn't of more use as your personal battleship, princess..."

The door bursts open. An unknown figure wearing dark colors steps into the light of the bridge. "I'm surprised. I can't believe the crew was so weak. I've heard tales about you, though." The princess looks confused. "Wait a minute, your energy is familiar. You can't be a guardian. I don't know you." Red lights flash from behind them. "Very good, princess. I'm just here to do my job. Take them, but don't kill them!"

The boy begins to cry. All of a sudden, bright light flashes before the princess. Then, a voice comes out of the light. "I'm sorry, but you can't touch her." A young man steps out wearing blue and black. He pulls out a sword and in a single slash, destroys all of the robots. "Wait, you can't be here. It's not possible that you are here!" says the princess. "Heh. There's more going on here than you know," says the dark figure. "Hey, Tsu... I mean, idiot with the sword! You know what's supposed to happen here! Be a good boy and let me work my magic." A scythe appears in his hand. "You might not want to watch, though."

A ribbon of light comes from his scythe as he slashes it. The woman and the boy are bathed in the light and their features begin to change as some light leaves them both and flies off. "That's enough!" Yells the man in blue. Holding up his hand in front of him, a strange light purple energy leaps from his hand and hits the dark figure. The dark figure disappears.

"I'm sorry I didn't stop him." She didn't respond. "Of course, she is unconscious. I wish I could have stopped him, but I can't meddle in the past.." After placing her in an escape pod with her son, he shuts the door.

"Carrie! Launch this escape pod headed for the planet at this location: 120-85-3! At the same time, launch all other escape pods."

"Understood."

"It was nice to meet you, Carrie. I'm sorry I didn't get to know you better. Goodbye, Carrie." Another flash envelops the young man and he disappears.

The holographic image of Carrie, the ship's computer, stands alone on the bridge. "Fourth dimensional manipulation. Seems like outlawing it doesn't prevent it." Flames envelop the bridge, as the ship becomes a bright star in the sky. After four seconds, the beacon of fire that was once the ship fades to darkness.


	2. Chapter One

Chapter One

"Ugh. Who else in the WORLD has to walk to school at 6:00 in the morning?" Brandon yawned. The sun had not risen yet, and it was a cool autumn morning. "Well, it's not as if I have to go this early, but it's still worth it to do so." Streaks of colors began to flow across the sky. "Oh crap, I'm gonna be late!" Brandon began to dash to school.

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter One Line Break

"Phew, made it." Panting, Brandon slumped against the tree in the middle of the school's courtyard. The streaks of purples and reds became larger, more animated. The quiet campus had a handful of dim shadows coming from their prospective teachers and students, who were walking to their destinations. Brandon did not have a scholastic purpose in being in school that early, he just loved to watch the sunrise in silence. He leaned against the tree and looked up at the sky.

"You know, they don't tell you about this when they are talking about all the bad that pollution does." The mysterious female voice spoke from directly behind Brandon. Quickly returning to his feet and spinning around, Brandon's reply was simply a yelp of surprise mixed with the sound one makes when trying their best not to fall. "It's not so cool when someone sneaks up on you, is it?", she said while laughing, remarking about his bad habit. "Hello to you too, Kitty." Brandon remarked in a sarcastic tone.

The sound of an electronic school bell filled the air, drowning out Kitty's comment."There goes the bell," she said warily.

"Which means, we'll have to hear that mess...again," Brandon groaned, finishing Kitty' sentence. Swarms of students exited the buses and headed for the quad. After reaching the quad, many students split off, some heading to breakfast, others heading to finish unfinished homework, and still others going to chat with their friends at their various meeting places. Their paths were random, some taking the sidewalk, and others taking going through the grass. Three students did come to the tree, greeting the others in the usual way. Xavier, Nicole and Brandon's best friend Issac eventually stopped in front of the two of them.

"Morning! How's it feel to be strapped into a walking nuke reactor at 6 am in the morning? Makes you wish blah blah blah...".

"G' Morning, Issac. Will you ever stop saying that? You cannot imagine how annoying it is to hear that every single day." Of course, Brandon's pleadings were ignored and they went on with their normal teenage conversations until the bell for class rang.

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter One Line Break

After school, Brandon decided that he would head through the forest instead of taking the road on his way home. On his way through the forest, he heard voices.

"Heh, look at this girl, she must have ticked some one off for them to stab her like that." One voice said.

"Yeah, I wouldn't waste a face like that, I'd just slap her around a bit. Shame though." Another responded.

"I don't think anyone would care if we..." A third voice trailed off.

"Heh, looks like she does by that look in her eyes, but I don't think she has too much time to worry about that. If you are a good girl, we'll take you to a hospital." The final voice said, agreeing with his partners. The mysterious girl shook her head slowly in disapproval. However, the four guys surrounding her did not even register her unwillingness.

"Ganging up on a helpless girl? Never mind the fact that she is hurt. You guys have to be weak and stupid to try something like that," Brandon stated, full of self imposed coolness.. Looking at the girl, he noticed her fading consciousness "Gonna have to finish this up quick." he said to himself. "Come get some." All four guys begin to reach into their respective pockets. "Wait! No weapons. It's four against one, you cant call yourselves real men if you can't take down me down." Lunging, the first guy comes out to swing at him. Brandon, planning for that, ducks down and punches him in the solar plexus, using his momentum against him. The second guy tries to swing from behind, and is head butted in the chin by the force of Brandon's standing up. The last guy makes a quick turn and tries to come at Brandon from the side, but is grabbed and redirected into a dying tree. The final guy, comes from behind the third guy's original position and stabs Brandon in the side shallowly with a knife. "No Weapons! Have you no pride!" Brandon muttered. At that moment, a branch from the dead tree fell and Brandon caught it, using it to knock the last guy unconscious. "Ugh, this is going to hurt like mess." Lifting her on his back, he states to the unconscious girl, "Let's get you home," while trying to ignore the pain from his midsection.

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter One Line Break

Light breathing was the only sound to be heard throughout the entire room. Brandon watched this mysterious girl as she slept. He couldn't help but admire how beautiful she was. She began to stir, and as she did so, he ducked out of sight. Peeking above the bed just enough to see her, he was greeted with the image of emerald green eyes staring back into his. Only inches away from each other, the sat motionless, staring into the others eyes.

"Well?" She spoke, breaking the silence.

"Well what?" he responded, returning the attitude.

"Well, who are you? I don't recall asking to come here."

Standing up, he retorted," I'm sorry, I ASSUMED that you needed help and we're injured."

"Well, you know what happens when you assume something, don't you?" She responded insultingly.

"I don't need this. Is there any thing else I can do for YOU? I don't want to ASSUME anything!"

"Well, I don't want to be a bother," she begins harshly, "but all I need is for you to tell me what happened to the boy who saved me in the forest."

"He's about to leave the room! I'm sorry about your dress, It was already ripped up, But I ripped it more to dress your wounds!" Giving her a cold look, he began to turn to leave the room.

"So... you didn't peek?" Her question softer than the tone she had just split seconds before.. "What am I not good enough for you?" Her second question had the fire the first didn't.

Without turning around, he stated as coldly as possible. "No, I didn't." He then proceeded to storm out of the room and slam the door.


	3. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Reluctantly, Brandon reopened the door five minutes later. "My siblings will be here soon. Would you mind moving into the attic for a while?"

She turned to look at him. "Of course, under one condition, you have to lift up your shirt."

"Why?"

"You saw my stomach, so I get to see yours. I think it's a fair trade, don't you?"

"Fine. No poking."

Brandon slowly approached the bed. "Come on, don't be so scared. I won't bite." Brandon gave her an odd look, but reluctantly began to pull up his shirt. She stared at his midsection for a couple minutes, which made Brandon get a little nervous. Suddenly, she wrapped her arms around him. "Hey! Stop that, it hurts! It can't be good for your wound either! Come on..." Brandon struggled lightly to not agitate either of their wounds.

"Thank you." Her response caused him to stop struggling.

"What did you say?"

"I said thanks. I didn't know what I was going to do. If you hadn't shown up, I'd be dead right now."

"Uh... uh...Your welcome...uh, what is your name? Mine is Brandon."

"I'm Kori. What's with the slow response? You we're a lot faster when you were mad."

"I didn't expect you to be so...cute about it."

"Well what'd you expect? You did save my life after all!"

"That's more like it. Why were you so mad at me before?"

"Because I thought you were one of the guys that attacked me. You didn't look like the guy who first showed up."

"What do you mean? Brandon looked down at his hands. His complexion was completely different. Running to a mirror, he reached slowly for his hair. "What happened to me? I...used to look different. Even my beautiful... well, nice, brown eyes are different! His eyes had changed from brown, to purple.

"Eh. Didn't you say that you were worried about something?"

"Oh yeah! Come on, let's get you into the attic.

"Well, I'm waiting. I can't really walk like this."

"Okay, get on my..."

"Nope, I wanna be carried, princess style."

Brandon sighed. Leaning over her, He lifted her into his arms. A semi creepy smile crossed his face, showing what he was thinking. All of a sudden, a hand came out of nowhere and "gently" landed on his face with the burning ferocity of a thousand suns. " Yeah, whatever you're thinking, stop it." Brandon stared at her for a second, but continued to carry her up the stairs to the attic.

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

Three Weeks Later...

"How do you feel today, Kori?"

"Bored out of my mind. I hate being confined to this house all the time! My wound is almost healed, but I spend all of my time couped up in this house!", Kori pouted.

"Well, what do you want to do?"

"Iunno, just do something during the day. There's nothing to do in this city at night."

"You're sixteen, you can't get away with that. Besides, if you are seen walking around in the daytime, the truant officers will more than likely get suspicious."

"Hey, I'm twenty two! The stupid portal made my body six years younger. What do you do during the day... oh yeah, school. That would be sooo fun...ugh. I guess it's better than nothing. Okay, it looks like I'm joining your school! Aren't you happy?"

"Wait a minute, I'm glad you came to this conclusion on your own, but that's not...wait, how are you going to join the school?"

"Oh, that's simple. There's a computer in the kitchen, right? Lead the way."

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

Brandon gestured toward the computer. "We're here, although there's not much you can do."

Kori waved him off. "Just watch and learn. She looked at the computer tower and poked at it. "Hmm, pretty low tech, but still usable. The government controls education on this planet, right?"

Brandon shrugged, "Of course, but what do you plan to do?

Kori turned around and stared at him for a second, then smiled, "Hack them, naturally." She turned back toward the screen and arranged her hands like they were on a keyboard, but actually three inches above the actual one. The silver piece of jewelry on her arm began to glow, and a new screen appeared in front of the old one. A keyboard appeared where her fingers were as well. "Okay now, let's see... wait a minute. This unit...has already been used! This is beyond top of the line equipment! What's this on the screen... Tsuike's nanomachine diagnostic? Do you know who Tsuike is?"

Brandon was too excited to respond. "This is technology? How did you do... oh, Tsuike? No idea. Let's see, it looks like it says something... 10/24/04 Nanomachines begin malfunctioning. Cloaking disabled due to outside contact with familiar yet unfamiliar DNA structure. Need more data to begin hypothesis development." 10/24... That was a couple weeks ago. The day I met you as a matter of fact. Oh well. What else can you do?"

"Wait, you can read this? I can barely..."

"Come on, show me more already, please?"

"Fine fine. You're just like a little kid. See, this planet, besides this equipment, is too primitive. Breaking into government records will be a snap. Give me thirty seconds."

...

...

...

...

...

"There! Done! I am now a student at *********** University High School. I take all the same classes you do! Well, I wanna get to bed early."

"Why? It's 3 in the afternoon!"

"I want to be fully ready and rested for tomorrow! I can't wait to show everyone what I can do..."

"It's gonna be a long day tomorrow. I can just feel it."

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

"Come on. Why do we have to leave so early? Class doesn't start for another hour and fifteen minutes! Is it really that far to walk? It's still dark out."

Brandon was unbelievably tired of all to complaining. It took all he had for him not to say, "Then you shouldn't have signed up for school then! Honestly!" However, he did have the presence of mind to say, "Just trust me, it will be well worth it when we get there."

"I hope so... " She grumbled in response.

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

"Okay", Brandon said, gesturing towards the east," just stare at the sky over there."

The colors began to streak through the sky, giving life to the new day. "Is this... a sunrise?" Kori asked.

"Sure is. The different hues of pink and purple are due to the pollution. It's good for something."

"I've...never...really seen one. The pollution where I grew up was so bad that I was unable to see the sunrise.." She turned to Brandon and stared deep into his eyes with her own, tear filled eyes. "Thank you, really." Brandon just stood there, unsure of what really to say back. When he finally did open his mouth...

The bell rung. "You really suck at romantic situations, don't you? C'mon, first we have English."

"You almost look excited to be back in school."

"That's just your imagination."

"Good, I'm never gonna hear the end of it if you get bored..."

"I'll ignore that for now."

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

Brandon was lying on the grassy hill during lunch alone.

"So far, nothing has gone wrong. But knowing my luck, this last class is going to be horrible."

"Hey, what are you thinking about?" Kori walked up and sat right next to him.

Brandon sighed. "Nothing, nothing."

"You know, your friend, what was his name... Anyway, he was hitting on me."

"Of course."

"He's kinda cute."

"I'll kill him."

Kori giggled. "I'm just messing with you. Lunch is almost up, we've gotta finish Programming."

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

"It's actually been a pretty normal day. There's only one class to suffer through left. By the way, where'd you get that saxophone?"

"Oh, it's just a copy of yours. I made it last night."

"HOW'D YOU MANAGE THAT!"

"Quiet, quiet. That's not important right now. We're gonna be late!"

"Fine, fine. Do you know how to play that thing?

"No idea. I don't even really know what it looks like all around."

"This can't end well..."

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

Sure enough, Jazz Band was a disaster. The sounds that came from that instrument were otherworldly. She really didn't know how to play. It was so bad...

"My faith in humanity has been destroyed. How can such a lack of artistic talent come from a human? I need a drink. Class Dismissed." The teacher started to walk out the door.

"But we still have an hour..." The Students complained.

"CLASS DISMISSED!"

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

"Was it really that bad?"

Brandon thought about his response, and decided that the best thing for him to do, was to ignore that and pretend she didn't ask. However, she wasn't going to let that one go.

"WAS IT REALLY THAT BAD?"

"Uh...Uh, how about I'll teach you how to play that."

"Sure, I guess that's fine."

"All right then, let's get started.."

"Why? We have plenty of time."

"Well, I think it's because your talent is so special, we just drove someone to drinking. Besides, I've always wanted to teach someone how to play the sax. So let's get started as soon as possible."

"Good."

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Two Line Break

Brandon never imagined something could be so horrible. The unholy sounds in the band room was one thing, trying to teach someone not to make those unholy sounds was even worse. However, she was a fast learner, so his suffering was not long.

"Good, good. I think that's enough for today. So did you understand everything we went over today?"

"Yeah, yeah. Let's watch some TV. I'm bored."

"Fine, fine." Brandon turned on the tv.

"In the news today, dogs all over the world have been running away from their owners. There doesn't seem to be a reason for the strange disappearances. The only common denominator between the runaways is that they were all male dogs. In other news..."


	4. Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"There's an awful amount of dogs out today. I wonder what's got them all riled up?" Brandon said, looking around.

"I don't know," Kori responded, "are you sure that we don't need our instruments today?"

"Yeah, I think I'd know my own school schedule. You probably are about to say something about how you want to show off your skills with the saxophone, but they'll just have to wait for that. They can see my handiwork later."

Kori retorted,"Please, you didn't do anything, I did all the work."

Brandon began to get upset, and responded, " Since I don't do anything, it won't make a difference if you walk to school by yourself then!" Brandon then stormed off.

Kori yelled, "Are you sure you want to leave a defenseless...Why are they following him?"

Even with how early it was, and how few people were there, people still panicked when they saw dogs come onto the campus. Especially chasing someone. Unfortunately, that person was Brandon. The leader of the pack caught up to him and bit the bottom of his pant leg. The dog then stopped, ripping the jeans. "Hey, those were my favorite black jeans! Okay, that's it!" Brandon panted. Running toward the middle of the quad, he grabbed onto the tree and used it to slingshot himself around the tree and in the other direction toward the leader. Getting a good running start, he kicked the dog right in the jaw as hard as he could. The dog yelped and flew back.

"Seems our little prince has more fight in him then it seems."

"I assume you are talking about me. Thank you," Brandon responded.

"You aren't freaked out by the fact that a dog is speaking to you?"

"Eh, not really."

"Fine then. I'm gonna enjoy this, LITTLE PRINCE!"

"Hey, I'm pretty tall..."

All the dogs proceeded to merge into what could only be described as a ten foot tall three headed Cerberus looking creature. During the dog's transformation, the rest of Brandon's friends showed up."Crap, they're here." Issac sighed. Brandon began to panic even more, saying, "I'm pretty sure it's after me, get everyone out of here! If I'm not back in ten minutes, LEAVE ME! GET GOING!"

Everyone stood for a second and watched as Brandon, followed by the Cerberus-thing, entered the only building on campus with two floors. Issac was the first to respond, "Let's get moving. We need to get all of these people back onto the buses before the bus drivers figure out what's going on and bail. Get the bus driver on bus 858 to go to a different bus. We'll use that one to wait on him!" "Right!" They responded in unison, after which they all split up.

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Three Line Break

As soon as Brandon entered the school, he turned left and ran toward the staircase. He then stopped, and turned around to face his pursuer. The monster was having trouble getting through the tight space between the lockers and the wall. Slowly, it backed up. Brandon thought that it was just giving up, but no such luck. The Cerberus breathed in and held it. Exhaling, he released a torrent of fire, melting the lockers into puddles of red molten metal. "Aw, COME ON!" Brandon yelled, as he ran through the doors and up the stairs. Breathing fire all around, Cerberus then proceeded to follow Brandon as the flames took hold of the building...

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Three Line Break

Upstairs, Brandon found himself staggering a little because of the heat. Looking around, he found a room, where the flames hadn't taken hold yet, and ran inside and shut the door. When he turned around, he found Cerberus staring back at him. The monster had beat him into this room while he was staggering.

"HEH, LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE TRAPPED, LITTLE PRINCE."

"Hey, why are you after me? What are you?"

"I GUESS I CAN GIVE YOU AN EXPLANATION, THERE IS NO WAY THAT YOU ARE GOING TO GET OUT OF THIS SITUATION. I AM AFTER YOU BECAUSE IT IS MY JOB. I AM A BIOMECHANICAL AGENT SENT TO FIND AND DESTROY YOU. HOWEVER, YOU WERE HIDDEN, SO I HAD TO SPLIT MYSELF UP SO THAT I COULD FIND YOU EASIER. I TOOK THE FORM OF MANY DIFFERENT DOGS, SINCE THEY CAN MOVE AROUND SO EASILY ON THIS PLANET, AND WAITED FOR THE CHANCE TO FIND YOU. THANKS TO THAT MYSTERIOUS BURST OF ENERGY, I WAS ABLE TO."

"How would you be able to disguise yourself as a dog? There's something that living beings can do that you shouldn't be able to."

"HAD TO GENETICALLY ENGINEER GENETIC MATERIAL FOR REPRODUCTION. TO SEEM MORE REALISTIC, I HAD TO FORM MYSELF TO BE ANATOMICALLY CORRECT AND RESPONSIVE."

"Anatomically correct, huh?" Brandon said, picking up two textbooks, and looking at the window behind the Cerberus."

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Three Line Break

"Where is he? It's gotten too quiet in there," Kori wondered aloud.

"We gotta go! I hope it isn't true, but he may be dead at this point, and if so, that Rank IV is coming after you next!" Isaac responded.

"Why would he come after me?", Kori asked him.

"Because..." Isaac trailed off due to the loud roar that came from the school building. All of a sudden, there was the sound of broken glass as Brandon jumped through the window. Landing and rolling, he grabbed Kori's hand and yelled, "Let's get out of here! Let's go, lets go! The gas main won't be able to hold out much longer!" pulling Kori in tow while running toward the bus parking lot. The others followed, running as fast as they could. "I'm driving," Kitty said, once they got to the bus. As soon as the bus' engine turned over, she peeled out of the parking lot, power sliding into the lane. When they got a mile up the road, the school exploded in a ball of flame.

Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Three Line Break

"How did you get away from it? We heard a roar, and we thought that it had killed you." Issac asked.

"Well, it had me trapped in that classroom. It said something that I thought that I could use, so I threw a text book at it to distract it. I then ran at it, and slid under it's legs, smacking it in the gonads with the other book I picked up. I then jumped through the window, and the rest is history."

"That's just wrong," Xavier said.

"Yeah, but I'm here to agree with you. That counts for something, right?"

They all began to laugh. However, Kitty stopped and said, "Guys, the ride is about to get kinda rough!" All of a sudden , the bus rocked violently. Cerberus was pursuing them, attacking the bus, and ignoring the cars that kept crashing into it. "This thing should have died! Call the Police! See if they can clear the road!", Kitty yelled, throwing her cell phone to Xavier.

"We gotta get to a more deserted location!", Isaac stated.

"Yeah, there's too many people in danger on this road, try a less crowded one.", Brandon chimed in.

"Stop backseat driving! Now move to the left side of the bus and hold on!"

All of a sudden, Kitty drove over the median, and went in the opposite direction. Heading toward the highway, she turned right instead of left, heading through the woods, missing any trees, fortunately. After passing through the woods, they came to an open field.

"Stop the bus! I'm sick of this! At this rate we'll die trying to get away, and I'd rather die fighting than die running," Brandon exclaimed. Turning the bus sideways, Kitty stopped it. Brandon jumped out of the bus, saying "When I get out, run. It's after me, right?" Isaac responded after he left, "No, it wants her too. He has to fight this on his own."

"FINALLY GIVING UP? DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH TROUBLE YOU HAVE CAUSED ME TODAY?"

"Nope," Brandon said, pulling the yellow bar off the front of the bus, "and I'm gonna give you more till you kill me."

Holding the bar like a sword, he stood between the Cerberus and the bus. All of a sudden, Brandon made the first strike. Lunging at the Cerberus, he swung horizontally to cause it to jump backwards, then lunged again to follow up with an upward slash. Cerberus dodged both, and slashed at Brandon, who ducked and then jumped over the attack. Cerberus then breathed in, and as he did so, Brandon slashed as hard as he could at the Cerberus' head. CLANG! The bar had broken. Cerberus began to laugh. "YOU HAVE NO CHANCE! YOU CANNOT EVEN ATTACK!"

"Why are you fighting?", a mysterious voice said in his head.

Brandon continued to dodge the Cerberus' attacks. It was just toying with him at this point, now that he had no way to defend himself. "Because, " Brandon thought to himself, "I have no choice, mine and the lives of people I care about are in danger, I have to try something." Brandon just narrowly dodged a fireball. "Is that all?" the voice responded. "And... and I've always wanted to be the hero."

"Then let me give you a jump start."

A green light flashed in front of Brandon. It was a hilt of a blade, about 9 inches in length The tip was purple, where the center was dark green with light purple on the round section. "This is just the means, and a temporary one at that," The voice said. "Say it's name, and give it power."

"Seretion!"

A green blade of energy sprang from the end. "WHAT!" Taking the Cerberus' surprise as an opening, Brandon lunged once more, and drove his sword into Cerberus. Instead of pulling it out, it he reversed his grip and turned to the side. He then pulled it toward himself until it cleared Cerberus' body. He then turned and walked to the bus. Cerberus began to spark, then explode. Brandon continued to walk, as if his former nemesis hadn't even been there. His blade all of a sudden deactivated, and he passed out. Everyone ran up to him. "He's just asleep. Let's get him home," Issac said. A chunk of iron fell next to Brandon. "I'll take this," Kori said.

"Hmph, you did a good job, Tsuike." Issac said, dragging him to the bus.


	5. Chapter Four

Chapter Four

Brandon began to stir.

"How's it feel to be stared at by someone while you 're sleeping?"

Brandon woke up and looked around. It was only him and Kori in the room. "I don't necessarily mind waking up to your face," he said, sitting up in the bed as he did so.

"You looked pretty cool out there, fighting that beast. That makes the second time you've saved me from getting attacked."

"Well, I..."

Suddenly, the door opened."Good, you both are here." A female figure stood in the doorway. "Mom!" Brandon squeaked. "Yeah, we need to talk. Follow me, you two. Oh, but first..." She walked over to the two of them, and smacked them both upside the head. "That's for sneaking a girl in the house in your case, and in yours, little girl, for using my computer. Let's go, now!" She walked back to the doorway and stood, waiting. As soon as they reached her, a bright light enveloped them all."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSN

"Status report!"

"We are on our way to the planet at point 120-85-3. The machines are still in pursuit!"

"Any damage?"

"Hull breaches in outer armored areas. The security system is still taking care of the intruders, though."

"And the energy?"

"The Metamor energy that was detected 2 days ago hasn't started back up. However, we did detect a royal energy spike. However, it disappeared as soon as it was detected. We are still looking into it."

"Good, because at this point we are flying blind into the soup..."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSN

"We're here. Welcome to the real house, Tsuike. Gosh, I haven't called you that since you were really little."

"What are you talking about, mom? My name is..."

"It's Tsuike, not Brandon."

"Okay, first off, why Brandon? And what's going on?"

"Well, number one, it was either Brandon or Michael. And two...well..."

The three of them continued walking through this huge area filled with plants. Soon, they reached a place where everything looked like a lab, but made out of things seen in nature. The chair twined like vines, the desk was wooden with red hot spots. Only the floor looked synthetic, like a carpet. "Welcome to the lab, Tsuike. Kori, was it? I believe you've already been in here. Please, sit."

Two chairs formed behind Kori and Tsuike. As hard as they looked, they were surprisingly comfortable. "You always knew you were special. Even in elementary school, you acted like you were better than all the other kids. You aren't from here, as in this planet. Royal candidates on the planet Uragin are not allowed to be protected, they are the protectors. In war, the rulers stand on the front lines, to protect their people. As the strongest, they have to be able to defend themselves, as the whole planet of Uragin protects the galaxy. However, we were attacked by the machines on the way to a peace conference. The event was a setup by the Greks. Greks are biomechanical beings bent on galaxial domination. The time when Uragin is at it's weakest is when rulers are about to be changed, or the royal test. My royal test was coming up, so I was on my own, sort of. Our ship, and the ship of... well never mind. That fact will scare you right now. Both of the ships were attacked and destroyed by someone leading futuristic Greks, more upgraded than the time period they lived in. We were forced to evacuate to this remote region to hide your energy signature, since they would come after you. Here you grew up, that is, until someone ALERTED EVERYONE AS TO OUR PRESENCE BEFORE YOU WERE READY!!!!", she said glaring at Kori.

"Hey, what'd I do?"

"You know that atomic restructuring uses a lot of energy and is WAY more advanced than what this primitive planet has to offer! That little action of creating a saxophone was basically a way of saying: HEY! We're right here!"

"...oh."

"Anyway, that leads us to this: As royalty, and strong royalty at that, you have a choice: One, stay here and live a peaceful life with your powers sealed, or Two, fight for the next major part of you life to protect the universe. You can think about it till tomorrow. It all goes down one way or another tomorrow. There's been a room down here for you for a while. You can sleep there. Kori, unless you want to sleep in the attic, there's one for you as well. I'm going to the surface. I gotta tell your dad that the peace has been broken."

Another bright light flashed, and she was gone. Tsuike sat there for the next five minutes, staring at the place where his mother sat. "Hey computer, what's all in this place?"

"There is facilities in all the rooms for cooking, waste disposal, and sleeping. We do, however, recommend that you all eat together in the master dining room. There is also a lab, training area, creation area, garden, and residential area. The residential area is divided into different areas suitable for different 'affinities'. These are then divided into separate living spaces. The lab is for scientific research, cloning, and healing. It's also the hospital. The training area is for different holographic activities, but it is mostly used for battle training and sparring. The garden is for relaxing, growing different materials, and, of course, growing the food and keeping the animals. The creation area is where items are created and modified. However, atomic restructuring has been disabled at this time."

"...Okay, that was a lot. How about for now we just go to the garden. How do we get there?"

"Please let me take care of that."

A bright light enveloped Kori and Tsuike. Next thing they knew, they were surrounded by the green of a field, filled with a rainbow of flowers blooming all around. In the distance, they could see the fields for food, and the animal farm. "I missed this the first time I came here! It's so beautiful!", Kori cried. Tsuike was dumbfounded, and just stood there, looking around. "So you are an Ura, and a royal one at that. Wow, I really got lucky on this one! What are you gonna do?", Kori prodded, walking behind Tsuike's back. "I don't know. I like it calm, but it's always been my dream to protect people. I've always wanted to be the hero." Tsuike turned to face her. "I'm really torn. I'm not sure what to do.." "Maybe you should sleep on it," Kori said. "Maybe I should. Computer!"

A woman appeared, "You don't have to yell, And my name is Carrie II."

"You were nicer earlier... and you didn't have a body."

"Well, I am here to serve my lady. And I always have, but the information behind that is top secret!"

"Uh, okay. Can you run me a bath? I'm a little sore."

"No problem."

"Okay, that's weird, you're just like a person."

"I AM A PERSON!"

Tsuike shot Carrie a quizzical look.

"Okay, you just aren't gonna get it, teleporting you to your quarters so that you can eat and have a bath."

A bright light enveloped Tsuike, and soon he disappeared. Kori yawned and stretched."I'll have to explore another day. Carrie? Will you do the same for me as well?"

"Yes, ma'am."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSN

"We can't maintain orbit! The Greks have advanced too far and have taken out the power grid!"

"Crap."

"We are sealing off all areas to this point! The backup systems will have to slow them down!"

"Good, because we need a plan. First of all, since we're going to crash anyway, control the free fall into a non populated area. Preferably something cold to cool us afterwards."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSN

Tsuike was lying awake, staring at the ceiling. The room he slept in was recreated down to the smallest detail to look like the one he had slept in for so many years. "I wonder what Isaac knows about all of this. He didn't seem to shocked to see that Cerberus." Tsuike shook his head. "But that's not important right now! I really don't know what to do. I'd love to travel the universe, and protect people. But I want to live a peaceful life as well. And what Carrie II said about that lab still bothers me. I wish there was a way to choose both... Hey, Carrie!"

"You rang?"

"Yeah, can I go to the lab? I think I would think better in there."

"Sure, but get dressed first."

"Thank you for not showing up, I'd feel self conscious if a girl were standing in front of me right now."

"No problem. "

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSN

The next day, Tsuike was summoned to the garden. He found his mother, father and Kori there, waiting for him.

"What did you decide, Tsuike?"

Tsuike was oddly psyched, especially since he had felt so torn the day before. "I'm coming along too. I want to see all the places, meet new people, and protect this place."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Carrie! We're going with Plan A!"

All of a sudden, a bright light enveloped the four of them. They were in a completely different room. This room was filled with a giant pink tree, however, it did not have any leaves. The transparent floors showed the roots of the tree, whereas the transparent ceiling showed the branches. "Wow, this is...surreal." Tsuike said. "I'd like to introduce you to...Carrie. This is the where all the energy comes form as well as the processing power. It's the CPU plus the power supply in computer terms." Carrie made a throat clearing sound. "Okay... She is the Cpu plus the power supply." "Yeah, but it's not like we are confined to just being computers. We are actually sentient beings.", Carrie appeared in front of the tree. "This is, formally, Carrie. Her race have humanoid bodies as well as, you could say plant bodies. This body, unlike the other one you saw, is real. But more on that later. A ship like Carrie crash landed in the arctic. Head there and figure out what happened.""Okay, mom. One question though: Does that mean that Carrie can fly?" "No I can't. We have to be at least twenty of your years old to be able to fly through space. I'm only 16."

"Okay okay, enough chit-chat. Before we teleport you to the location, we need to stop by the creation area."

"Carrie, is the restructuring done on that item?"

"Yes, ma'am. It was done to your specifications. It is right there on the table."

"Okay, Tsuike? Hand me Seretion." She then picked up the blade that was created. "This blade is made of bronze. You haven't quite gotten used to using energy. That's why you passed out yesterday. This blade will be used inside of Seretion until you are able to use your energy proficiently. By the way, I used Kori's Saxophone to make this."

"What?! I was looking forward to playing that!"

"Don't worry, we'll make you a new one later. You are going with him, right?"

"What makes you think..."

"I already know, you can't get out of it. I know you can fight. Just go with him. The artic should feel like home to you anyway."

"Okay, it's the least I can do."

"Okay, time to go." A bright light enveloped Kori and Tsuike.

"And so it begins," Tsuike's mom said.


	6. Chapter Five

Chapter Five

"Holy crap, it's cold!"

"It's not that cold, quit complaining."

"How cold is it then?"

"Well, let's see, why don't you ask your little computer there?"

"What computer?"

"Okay, you can't be so numb as to not feel that...well...thing on the top of your head!"

"What thing?" Tsuike took his hands away from rubbing his arms and felt his head. Sure enough, there was something there. "It feels like...vines. What is this thing?!"

A hologram of Carrie showed up. "Could you stop calling it a thing?! I made it myself. It's for interfacing with those like me, interfacing with things made by those like me, and controlling the nanomachines within your body. However, you aren't linked with a ship yet, so you can't control or fly a ship through yours."

"Okay, that scared me half to death." Tsuike responded.

"Yeah... Anyway, what's the temperature out here?", Kori answered sharply.

"Why didn't you ask yours?", Carrie bit back

"Mine?" Kori then began to look at her armband. "This is only an interface... hey! I have one too! You changed it without my permission! That was special to me!" Her Armband was still silver, but now looked like intertwining vines. "But wait, I thought that only those with royal blood can use these?"

"Eh, I'll explain that later. For now, you've gotta hurry to that ship. I'm adjusting your clothes, which I also modified, to withstand the -3 degree temperature out here." Carrie then disappeared. Tsuike and Kori began to walk in the direction of the smoke.

"-3 DEGREES!!! HOW CAN YOU TAKE THIS?!"

"Because, I love the cold. But it goes deeper than that..."

All of a sudden, the sound of metal scraping against ice was heard. It began to get louder and louder, heading toward the two. All of a sudden, a holographic projection appeared in front of Tsuike's eyes. The same also happened to Kori. "Nid. Rank I Grek. Weak to electricity. Number: 3." The information ran by in front of their eyes. Then the holographic images disappeared.

"What's a Nid?" Tsuike asked."

"I'll bet we're about to find out. Let's see if I am well enough to do this."

Three mechanical spiders crawling fast came upon Tsuike and Kori. They were about a foot tall, and two feet wide and long. "That's just creepy. I guess that is a Nid." Tsuike said. While they were about 20 yards away, Kori held up her hand and exhaled. A flash of blue light flew at one of the spiders. On it's way, it turned into an icicle and buried itself into one of the Nids. The other two were unfazed by their partner's destruction. "Geez, I guess I can't do that too many times in a row anymore. I need more practice." Kori said, out of breath. She then reached into a pouch she carried and pulled out something about the size of a soda can. She then flicked her wrist, and it extended into a pole as tall as she was. "It's made of iron, so it should do a good amount of damage. I made from the chunk I picked up the other day." "Good to know." Tsuike said sarcastically, pulling out his sword. Slashing twice, he destroyed the first Nid that jumped at him. "These things are weak." Kori said, holding her pole so that it shortened to the size of a bat. When the last Nid jumped at her, She swung as hard as she could, hitting it dead center. The Nid made a satisfying crunch sound before it went flying for a good distance only to detonate in the air.

"How did you shoot that energy?" Tsuike asked, continuing to walk.

"It's pretty common knowledge where I come from. Where you come from also, as a matter of fact. I'll teach you on the way if we can keep from being attacked."

"Actually, that's my job." Carrie's voice was heard in their heads. Then information started to stream in front of Tsuike's eyes. "The way to use energy is basically the same way you controlled your body temperature. By concentrating on the different points of your body and controlling the blood flow all these years, you were actually attempting to use your energy, but your nanomachines blocked you from using it. It all dates back to..."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"Ugh, that was more than I ever wanted to know." Tsuike held up his hand, it trembled a little bit as he concentrated on that particular body part. All of a sudden, he felt a wave of heat going up his arm. When it reached his palm, a yellow light left it. It then took the shape of an electric sphere. And went into the sky, expanding and then dissipating. "Cool!" Tsuike exclaimed." A hologram of Carrie appeared in front of them."You were so close to not being detected, moron."

"Moron?" Tsuike looked puzzled.

All of a sudden, the holographic projections appeared in front of their eyes again. "Nid. Rank I. Weak to Electricity. Number: 16."

"Great, just great. You had such a good streak going there, too." Kori responded, looking at Tsuike.

"..."Tsuike opened his mouth, then closed it. He opened it again, "Well, nothing left to do but fight," he said, pulling out Seretion again. "I guess that means 8 for the each of us. Good thing they're so weak." He shot one with a blast of electricity, which happened to take out two, instead of one. Kori then grunted, and shot a blast of her own, which expanded when it connected, taking out three.."I can't let you win, now can I? I've been doing this longer." The battle raged on...

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"Let's hurry to the ship before something else happens. It's still about half a mile away."

"Yeah, let's run. We should get there soon.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

The area around the wreckage was still warm, with pieces of organic metal laying around. The huge ship was almost indescribable in length, at least being two miles long and a mile wide. "Wow, that's what one looks like..." Tsuike said, staring at the wreckage. The ship looked like water streams bending toward each other, except they weren't flowing. The"streams" flowed into a big pill looking lake. The whole ship was a cool blue color, like the landscape.

"What, did you expect flashing lights?"

"Well, maybe not, but I did expect something more...metally."

All of a sudden, a grainy hologram of a twenty-four year old man shows up. "Looks like you came to us. My lady needs your help, it won't be too long before the Greks break through the barrier. Could I ask you to rescue my master?" Carrie's voice appeared in Kori's and Tsuike's head, "Wow, that is Hectarian, another Iragi. I haven't been back on the main planet since, well, ever, so I don't know his current status, or whether or not he is linked to someone. I would expect that he is linked to someone, however."

"Could you stop with the commentary?!" Tsuike thought, "you're making this boring."

"Yeah, you kinda are," Kori "chimed" in.

"Bleh, meanies!" Carrie "stuck" out her tongue, then disappeared.

"I can't teleport you to her location, but I can let you in the ship." Hectarian said, leading Tsuike and Kori to a swirling point in the hull of the ship. "This is about as much as I can do. Please save her." Hectarian then disappeared.

"Well, let's go." Tsuike said, starting to walk toward the door.

"She isn't going to rescue herself. I think she's having enough trouble as it is. Apparently, we don't only have Nids to worry about."

"How do you know that?"


	7. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

"Man, not even enough time to admire the scenery!"

Immediately upon entering the ship, The hologram showed up in front of their eyes again. "24 Nids in a 200 foot radius, 5 Baels. 50 feet until next squad. 800 feet until the Bridge is reached."

"Lovely," Kori said,"it looks like we have our work cut out for us." Suddenly, new readings popped up. "Or maybe not. I wonder why they're running away?"

All of a sudden, violent shaking encompassed the entire ship. The floor changed from it's arctic blue color to a blood red shade."This can't be good." Tsuike said. Soon, Tsuike and Kori were whisked along toward a certain point. Outside, the ship shrunk to a percent of its original size. The long corridor that was once ahead shrunk to the size of a small house. "Attention trespassers on my new ship," A growling voice heard throughout the entire ship, "I am close to destroying a captive princess. If you want to stop me, either surrender yourself to me, or try and fight your way to me."

"Well, I guess I know what we're doing." Kori said. Tsuike then shot one of the advancing Nids. "Or not." Kori responded, extending her staff.

"I don't think that will be necessary. The ship floor is organic, right Carrie?". Tsuike thought.

"Yeah, but I..."

"And they conduct electricity too, right?"

"I suppose..."

Tsuike then slammed both of his hands against the floor. Closing his eyes, he concentrated as hard as he could, pushing a tremendous amount of energy through the floor and toward the large group of Nids headed in their direction. The ensuing explosions caused the hallway to be covered in a black smoke. "Nice job! You're really learning how to use that energy! I think this makes up for the Nid incident earlier," Kori said.

Tsuike leaned on the wall next to him, panting. "I dunno. I...don't think that that was a good idea. I'm exhausted now."

"Well now, that's not nice. And here I arranged for such a nice escort for you, too. I suppose that I'll have to escort you in a different way. Baels!" The growling voice then beckoned.

"We have to keep running! We won't make it in time if we keep pausing!", Kori then grabbed Tsuike's hand and ran down the hall. Mechanical howling was heard coming from behind them. "How did they get behind us?" Tsuike asked. "Not good, those are Baels. They are a lot stronger than Nids. They are still Level 1 Greks, but they are not to be underestimated." "Thanks for the update, Carrie.", Kori responded, sarcastically. They looked back, and they saw three mechanical wolves following them. "Crap." Tsuike said, as both he and Kori held out their free hands. They shot three shots of energy, which merged and transformed into electrified shards of ice, which embedded into the floor. The Baels then ran into them, stunning them and stopping them in their tracks. "The door is just ahead.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

Bursting into the room, they saw an oddly blank room. In the middle was a sphere of blue energy with a girl in the fetal position's silhouette inside, with four lasers trying to penetrate the energy. Standing in front of the sphere was what looked like a Nid, but much larger, being about ten times the size of a normal one. An odd light blue marking was on the Nid. "Great, an Ob. This cannot get any worse," Carrie said.

"What's an Ob?" Tsuike replied.

"An Ob is a leader of platoon of Greks. You may call me Ob Nid. I suppose that you want access to the girl, huh? Let's get this over with." The three Baels from earlier drew up flank.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

Circling, Tsuike and Kori split up, with Kori backing off. The first Bael lunged at Tsuike, who dropped on his back and thrust his sword at it as it flew into his view. He hit it, but only managed to deal a fair amount of damage as it passed over him. It continued, headed for Kori, who then thrust her pole into its face, and turned to strike it with the bottom part of her pole with force across it's face. It was knocked away, stunned, but Kori didn't give it a chance to recover. She fired to icicles into the creature, causing it to detonate. Tsuike then tried to fire an electronic blast, but he failed. "I'm out of energy!"

He then began to retreat towards a wall, with the other two Baels chasing. One got ahead of the other, right when Tsuike reached the wall. Planting his foot on the wall, he pushed away from it, and pushed his sword down the throat of the second Bael. "That was a bad idea." The second Bael detonated, pelting Tsuike with shrapnel. His sleeves were ripped off, and his upper arms were covered in red streaks. The wounds were shallow, so they didn't bleed too much.

Remembering the third Bael, Tsuike turned, only to be pinned to the ground. Struggling, he couldn't draw enough energy to attack, only enough to cover his body with electricity, which stunned the creature. Kori, who had a running start, swung her pole, knocking the creature off of him. She felt like she was fighting better than she had in a long while. She then sent a wave of energy along the ground, which spiked into an icicle on the floor where the Bael would land, impaling it.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"Hmph, so you can fight a little. I'll grace you with my name. It's Ob Nidious, and according to your system of grading, I'm a rank III." The moment he said the word three, he fired metal spikes at Tsuike and Kori. Kori dove, grabbing Tsuike's hand and knocking him to the floor. The spikes past overhead, but Nidious had already fired another volley. Unable to react in time, Tsuike and Kori braced for the impact. The sphere of energy glowed light blue for a second. The spikes were repelled off of a barrier six inches away from Tsuike and Kori. "What?" Nidious exclaimed, continuing to fire volley after volley of spikes. Tsuike then stood up, and moved closer to the barrier, but the barrier did not move. Tsuike then fell back, unable to stand. "Without long range attacks, we won't be able to attack it. I've got some energy saved, but I can't just use it!" Kori said. "And I'm out of energy, " Tsuike said.

"Why don't you try basic energy, Tsuike?" A mysterious voice was then heard in his head, different from all the others. "It's the same way you use elemental energy, but instead of pushing the energy, you guide it. It also needs a medium, like a sword. It's the same energy you use for elemental energy, but that energy takes a lot more energy. You should have enough for a couple of waves." Tsuike then tried to stand again, but he fell down. Even though the wounds on his arm were shallow, that plus his fatigue wouldn't allow him to stand.

Kori, still in a state of heightened awareness from her fight with the last Bael, used one of her trump cards. Digging deep within her self, she felt a "glowing" point of energy. Releasing it, the energy enveloped Tsuike, closing and healing the wounds he incurred from the Baels.

Tsuike then stood again, and slashed in the air, guiding the energy through his sword. It destroyed the port on Nidious where the spikes were coming from. He started to run at Nidious, re sheathing his sword, and re drawing it once. The blade of bronze was no longer on the blade, and a familiar green blade sprung to life. He cut six of Nidious' eight legs off. He backed off, re sheathing his sword. He knelt, and concentrated energy to his feet, jumping to the ceiling above Nidious. Planting both feet on the ceiling, he jumped off that point as well, and dove, unsheathing his sword and impaling Nidious' with it's bronze blade. He covered his body with electricity, and focused it through the sword that had just become a conduit for Nidious' body. A high pitched shriek pierced the air. Tsuike then pulled his sword behind him, slashing through Nidious' shell and removing his sword. He then jumped off of Nidious, as Nidious began to detonate. However, when he landed, he fell on his face. "So close to being cool!" Tsuike thought to himself. Nidious exploded as Tsuike kissed the floor.

When the smoke cleared, the shrapnel littered the floor. Kori was already at the terminal. "I can't get the lasers to stop!" Kori cried. Tsuike slashed one more time while rising, cutting the top part off the pedestal, and stopping the lasers. "I could have done that." Kori said indignantly. The ball of energy bounced along the floor. Then released. A girl with black hair wearing a long purple dress that covered her all the way to her ankles, uncurled from the fetal position, and stood up. She seemed to be in her mid to late teens. She stared at Kori, then at Tsuike, her purple eyes seeming to peer into his soul. The silence seemed to go on for hours. Then, the girl spoke.

"My husband-to-be." She crossed the distance between them, and kissed Tsuike.


	8. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

Tsuike enjoyed the kiss for the first three seconds. After glancing at the look on Kori's face, he had the piece of mind to pull away from the girl and put some distance between them. Kori ran up, and pushed Tsuike. Then getting up into the girl's face, she questioned, "Who do you think you are? You can't just do something like that!"

"First off, my name is Akari. And why can I not kiss my betrothed?"

"Is this true, Tsuike?!"

Tsuike, still picking himself off the floor, replied "Ngh, it's news to me."

"So how can you and he be engaged if he doesn't know about it?"

"Because it was decided when we were born. Every once in a while, they pair two together to decide who would be husband and wife. And frankly, we lucked out by the fact that we ended up with such good catches. If the two are not compatible later on in life, they can break off the engagement. After the fact, however, the two are stuck."

"So any girl who he happened to meet would just be out of luck then?!" Kori took Akari and slammed her against a wall.

"Hey, that's going too far! And how can you have that much energy?" Tsuike said.

"Relax, she didn't even get hurt. She's half an inch away from the wall. She must have used a barrier to absorb the impact."

"Impressive. I guess I can't underestimate someone with the skills of recovery and analyzation. To answer your question, Tsuike, it is all adrenaline. That is why she can still move."

"And what about mine? If a girl like me liked him, then what?!"

"Well, it depends. A girl like you he could break off the engagement for. You, well, he can not."

"And why?"

"Because you are engaged to him, too."

Fifteen minutes passed in silence. Tsuike and Kori both broke the silence, "WHAT THE H..."

Akari cut them off. "In the attack on us sixteen years ago, we were split up by energy and thoughts. However, the mind is a wonderful thing. The separated thoughts became separate minds, because of the mind's will to survive. The energy became bodies due to the mind's will to survive as well. Essentially, Tsuike is engaged to one complete girl, but an untold number of separate girls."

Tsuike, thinking about the fact that he had just had his first kiss, smiled. This was the wrong moment to smile, however.

"YOU PIG!" Kori swung her staff at Tsuike as hard as she could, knocking him out cold.

Akari stood at the central core of Hectarian. "Hecie." She said tearfully. The the lifeless body of Hectarian lay pinned up against the core. A hologram of Tsuike's mom showed up. "According to the scans of the ship, the core is fine, but the mind of Hectarian is destroyed. His body still exists technically, but he's essentially dead. I'm sorry. There is, however, something we can do. We can duplicate Carrie's personality and map Hectarian's brain with it. We will have to redo his body to be like hers. We can't use his because we don't have a complete mapping. The damage caused by Nidious is too great."

"Can I give you my decision the next time I see you?"

"Sure, Carrie is moving your ship here on her own now. You should be here in the next two hours or so. We have to move you pretty slowly in order to allow the camouflage to keep up."

"That is fine. Tsuike should be conscious by that point."

"Oh, it's you."

"You are sitting here waiting to see if Tsuike is all right? I do not know if you can do that after knocking him out, Kori."

Tsuike stirred. He had been moved to a makeshift bed. His black eye was steadily healing.

"Well, maybe he didn't deserve to get hit that hard. All he really did was smile at the fact that he technically has more than one fiance. I think any sixteen year old guy that is not immediately scared of that thought would be happy at that."

"Well, I do not think he was smiling at that fact. I am pretty sure that fact has not really fully, how do you say, sunk in yet. Look, his eye healed!"

Tsuike barely opened his eyes. "You were the one who helped me with regular energy, weren't you?"

Akari responded cheerfully, "Yes I was. I am glad that you recognized my voice from out of your head."

"No problem. And I wasn't thinking about the engagement. I was thinking about my first kiss. That was actually, my first kiss. Wow."

Kori swung her staff at Tsuike's head again, but this time Akari used a barrier to block it. Tsuike flinched when he saw the pole come at him. "Akari, can I see you in the Central Core?" Carrie asked. Akari stood up and walked out of the room. "Maybe I should get some rest, too." Kori began to leave the room. "I did kinda want my first kiss to be on my terms, though.I definitely wanted to be someone I knew a little better. But I guess that's just the girl I had in mind." Kori did not turn around, but she did smile on her way out the door.

"You're thinking of leaving Hectarian to rest in peace, aren't you?" Carrie's question snapped Akari out of her deep thinking.

"He has been with me for so long, I cannot just replace him. He was my first friend on Ura. It is just not fair.", Akari replied.

The Carrie hologram sighed, and began to walk in circles around Akari, slowly."But without a ship, you can't really do anything, even go back home. Quite frankly, you need a ship."

"Well, that is quite logical..."

"Mistress Akari, I would be honored to be your ship."

"Mistress? I do like the ring of that...Fine. You can be my ship."

"Great, the me that will be your ship will be delighted to be with you. Now that that is settled, go. I know you want to go talk to him alone, right? Kori has left to get some sleep." the Carrie hologram disappeared. Akari then responded, "Wait, was I just talked into that?"

Tsuike was laying in his makeshift bed, thinking about the different things flying through his head. His engagement, energy, Akari, Kori... all these thoughts spun around in his head. One reoccuring thought did keep running through, however. "Why do I keep imagining Kori kissing me instead of Akari?"

"Well, maybe it is because you have known her for longer." Tsuike jumped out of bed and turned to face Akari, who was standing in the doorway. "Look, me and Kori are just pieces of a larger person. If you like one of us over the other, to the point that you resent or do not like one of us, then that will cause complications when we recombine."

"So is that the only reason you like me? 'Cause you have to?"

"What do you mean?"

"When we first met you kissed me."

"Well, from the study of earth culture, the best way to prove that someone likes you is to share a kiss."

"What? First off, you can't just take people's first kisses all willy-nilly."

"Willy...Nilly?"

"Willy-nilly."

"What does that mean?"

"I thought you knew english?"

"No I do not. The nanomachines translate languages that we do not know until it is ingraved in our heads. The initial translation of english began when Lady Novaus crashed on this planet. "

"Lady Novaus?"

"Your mother."

"Oh. Well, Willy Nilly means at random, or without a plan."

"Oh."

Fifteen seconds of silence passed between the two. Then Akari spoke again, "I am sorry that I stole your first kiss without considering your feelings. However, I would like for you to do something for me. Before you decide that you like one of us over the others, please get to know all of us before hand. Give us a chance. And I'll even do this for you: How long have you been around Kori?"

"About a month or so."

"After a month, I will tell you if I like you too. Deal?"

"Deal."

"Good, let's get something to eat, Carrie should be able to control those functions."

Carrie then appeared. "No I can't. That function was damaged by Nidious. I can make the facilites available for cooking but cannot replicate anything. Can you cook, Mistress?"

"I, unfortunately, cannot."

Tsuike spoke up, "I can, but it's mostly guy stuff."

"Is it able to be fixed?" Akari said, doubtful as to Tsuike's cooking.

"No it is not." Carrie responded.

"We are going to need a cook."


	9. Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight

A couple days later...

"See, I told you we are going to need a cook! There is not a healthy thing on this table!" Akari's exclamation filled the room.

"At least it's edible!" Tsuike bit back. "I don't know how you managed to put in brown foods and very few seasonings and still managed for everything to turn purple. Do you not remember how it took twelve hours for it to stop beating like a heart?!"

"I..remember." Akari reluctantly admitted. "Well... at least I did not invent a color darker than black with the burnt food SOMEONE cooked."

"Hey, I already said I couldn't cook. Leave me outta this." Kori said, quietly eating.

"We can't do anything until the remapping is complete, so we'll just have to wait. You should at least try to eat it." Tsuike then said in a singsong manner. "~It's good~ Besides you've been eating my food for the last couple days now, after the two attempts you two made at cooking meals. Do we have to go through this every meal?"

"Okay, I will stop complaining. But you need to learn how to cook some vegetables."

"That's still complaining."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

Elsewhere...

"THE BOY HAS SOME FIGHT IN HIM. HE WAS ABLE TO TAKE DOWN TWO OF OUR OB LEADERS."

"It doesn't matter. He still doesn't know where most of the princess pieces are. As long as we can find them first we win."

"AND IF HE STILL FINDS THEM FIRST?"

"We still have "her" as a backup. Besides, there are an estimated twelve pieces, the odds of him finding them all first are slim to none. And he would still have to convince them to his side. The odds of all this happening in his favor are virtually zero. Just don't forget your side of the bargain. How about the new signature that we detected?"

"TROOPS SHOULD HAVE ALREADY ARRIVED ON THE SCENE. BAEL'S AND GIRRA'S HAVE BEEN DISPATCHED.

"Excellent."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"Tsuike, Kori, and Akari, please report to the Central Core." The voice of Carrie rang throughout the entire dining room. Within Akari's head, Carrie asked, "Can I just teleport you all here instead of waiting?" Akari nodded. Suddenly, or at least to Tsuike and Kori, a bright light enveloped the three of them and teleported them to the Central Core.

"C'mon! Why didn't you at least warn us?! Tsuike and Kori yelled in unison.

"Because my mistress did not feel that it was necessary to warn you of the teleportation.", Carrie responded. Tsuike and Kori then turned stare at Akari. Akari turned slightly red, then turned her nose up in the air defiantly. "I guess I'm not doing a good job of showing him that the rest of us pieces are worth his attention as well, am I?" Akari thought to herself. "I'd have to say, no.", Kori responded out loud. Akari turned to look at Kori in disbelief. As soon as Akari opened her mouth to speak, however, Carrie interrupted.

"I am now fully in control of Hectarian's systems. However, I still have all of Hectarian's memories and experiences. I am now searching this sector of the galaxy for any signs of the princess."

Tsuike turned his head, as if confused. "If you could scan for the princesses, why did you do so a long time ago, instead of just now?"

"Well, because of reasons. One: Searching like this takes a lot of energy, so we would be alerting as to our presence. Two... Aha, found one! Wow, that's ironic. She is also on this planet. I've got her somewhere in Canada."

"Canada? Can't you get a better lock on her than that?"

"I can only get in about 50~100 miles of her. That is because of reason number two: most people hide their energy when they are not using it. Besides, these girls have pretty good instincts, they know when someone is hunting them. Reason thr..."

Akari chimed in, "Carrie, do not refer to us as if we are animals."

"Sorry, mistress. Are you three ready to teleport to that area? I've already modified your blade, Tsuike, and your pole, Kori."

All three of them nodded in agreement. "Hey, wait. What was reason three?" Before the white light enveloped the three of them, Carrie responded, "Reason Three is that we weren't looking for them."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

A bright light flashed in the middle of the forest. Tsuike, Kori, and Akari appeared in a clearing. The sun was going down in about an hour, so the streaks of the sun's departure hadn't graced the skies yet. Looking around, trying to get her bearings, Kori broke the silence, "I'm surprised, having some dainty little princess come search the forest with us." She glanced at Tsuike, and saw his disapproval of the comment she had just made. "Do you even fight?"

"Yeah, of course. Uragin is a planet that guards the galaxy- of course I fight. Do you not see this big hammer strapped to my back?"

"Wow, now that's really not fitting for a princess."

"And that staff is not fitting for someone as young as you are."

Tsuike chuckled under his breath. All of a sudden, the three were ambushed by a group of baels. Akari took first shot, swinging downward at the first Bael, crushing it. The rest of the group backed off, and huddled together, preparing to strike as a group to overwhelm them. Tsuike fired a big electrical blast into the group, preventing them from moving. Kori then sent ice energy along the ground, at the same time that Akari formed a barrier around the paralyzed enemies. The ice froze them solid, and Akari followed up by crushing the barrier.

"That wasn't bad, princess." Kori said, panting.

All of a sudden, four-foot tall metallic gorillas came crashing through the brush, taking the three by surprise. Pining the three to the ground, the gorillas rose their fists...

A round of rifle shots rang out from behind, pelting the gorillas and chasing them away. "Great, more amateurs." A group of hunters stood behind them. "Come on, we might as well let you come with us."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

A group of bonfires was seen in a much wider clearing than the one they were just in. "We'll let you stay for now, but the boss has to approve of your staying. He's young, but powerful." One hunter lead the way, speaking to the three as they walked. "You girls can stay in this tent, on the girl's side. We have to keep the two camps separated, otherwise, they'll shoot us in the face." The guy laughed out loud at his own joke. "Can you tell if any of them are the one we are looking for, Kori?" Tsuike asked, softly enough so as to not disturb the hunter with the laughing fit. "No, she's hiding her energy too well. It could be any of these girls."

The man stopped laughing, wiping away a tear. "Okay, go on girls, I'll make sure this one is all right, don't worry." The hunter grabbed Tsuike, as they both walked away toward the other camp. Along the way, the hunter stopped and straightened himself, as a robed figure walked past the two of them, without saying a word. "The boss" the hunter said in a hushed whisper. The figure continued to walk, leaving Tsuike's sight. "Hmm... is there anything strange about the boss?" Tsuike asked.

"Nope, just that the boss rarely speaks. All he mainly does is point, and give a thumbs up or down, roman style. There's also the fact that he always wears that robe. But he is the manliest of men, fighting old school with a spear against his quarries. He also is the one who does all of the cooking. Now we need to celebrate! We're going after those monster's nest tomorrow!"

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"This is just plain wrong." Tsuike said, walking in the direction of the sound of water. The yelling and laughter came from the direction of the camp. Vomit covered his shoes. "You'd think that someone who drinks as much as they do would know how to aim when they puke." It was deep into the night, with the blue moonlight dimly lighting the forest. Knowing he was getting close, Tsuike took his shoes off, as he prepared to wash them in the river. He accidentally touched his shirt with the vomit covered shoes."Crap, now I need to wash this as well."

Tsuike then reached the running river. Taking off his shirt, he noticed something moving in upriver. Ducking behind a bush, he then tried to see over the bush. There was a girl bathing. In the moonlight and Tsuike being the distance he was from her, couldn't see very much. She was facing away from Tsuike, with dark waist length hair. Being the chivalrous person that he was, he exclaimed, "Holy Crap!" and ducked to the ground. In that instant, three stones went flying over Tsuike's head and went through the tree behind him, leaving burnt holes behind. Tsuike looked at the tree, then looked back at the place where the girl was standing, in disbelief. She was gone.

"Looks like we found our girl." Tsuike said to himself.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

Early the next morning...

"Get up and get ready. It's time for us to go hunting."

Tsuike groggily rolled over, and prepared for the hunt. Once outside, he felt how tense the air was. "Why are you hunting these creatures?", Tsuike asked the hunter that helped him out the day before. "We say it's because we are hunting rare game, but the actual reason we hunt them is to protect our families. Sometimes to protect those who are important to you you have to put yourself in harms way." Tsuike was taken aback by his honorable answer.

"How was your night?" Kori had snuck up behind Tsuike. Tsuike jumped, but not enough for anyone to notice. "Well, it started with me being the only sober guy in the camp, continued with breaking up drunken bouts, continued further to being target practice for vomiting hunters, and ended with almost being killed by the girl we came to save."

"You saw her?"

"I'm pretty sure I did, she nearly killed me with a rock."

The crowd quieted down as robed figure stood on a tree stump in front of everyone. He stood there for a minute, before raising his spear high above his head. The crowd cheered. During the cheering, Tsuike noticed that the anxiety that everyone in the camp was feeling before had dissipated. He also stared at the spear more intently. It was all metal, and flat, even the parts where the hand holds were. Where the hand holds were were covered by wrapped cloth. He pointed his spear toward the north, and the entire crowd followed that direction.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

It was getting late, and the bodies of baels littered the forest's floors. "Man, what are these gorillas made of!" Tsuike exclaimed, slashing at one of the metallic gorillas from earlier.

Carrie responded in Tsuike's head "Gorras, these things are called Gorras. They are made out of tougher materials than Nids and Baels. They rank as Level II's due to their high defense. They are difficult to defeat, but if you can find their leader, the rest of the pack will deactivate, as they receive their commands directly from the Ob over them. Weak to Fire."

"Thanks for the update. Do you know where Kori and Akari are?" Tsuike thought.

"Since they are better with energy than hand to hand combat, they are back at camp tending to the wounded."

"What about the other girl?"

"She may be in this group. Due to the fact that you can't really use energy in front of the population of this planet..."

"The part that actually belongs here, anyway."

"I'll ignore that for now. It's hard to get a lock on her."

"Okay."

All of a sudden, the pack of Gorras backed off. Motioning for the other hunter to back off, the boss moved forward in pursuit. "I'm coming, too!" Tsuike caught up to and ran beside him. Running through the forest, they stopped at a cliff with the opposite side having a higher face. They turned around just in time to see what looked like a giant Bael crash through the forest.

"That must be the boss." Tsuike said.

The Ob Bael ran at the two of them. Tsuike and the boss both thrusted their weapons into the Bael's head, stopping it cold. "Wow, that was easy." Tsuike said, sheathing his sword. The boss' spear retracted, and he sheathed it in a holder. "Wow, sweet." Tsuike responded.

"SELF DESTRUCT." The body of the Ob Bael began to spark, and then exploded. The force of the blast knocked the two against the opposite fact of the cliff. As they began to fall, Tsuike dropped a little faster, but, barely conscious, he managed to grab the cliff face. Reaching out, he grabbed what felt like a belt under the bosses robe, and struggled to pull him up. The boss also tried to climb up Tsuike, and ended up wrapping his arm around Tsuike's waist, putting his hood in Tsuike's face, and making Tsuike freak out a little. Trying to breathe, Tsuike accidentally smelled his hood "???", Tsuike grunted in confusion. Tsuike's and the boss' slipping consciousness from the blow inflicted by the cliff face overtook them, and they plummeted into the river below them.


	10. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Tsuike awoke to the sound of the crackling firewood. Tsuike groaned, "I've really gotta stop waking up like this." Getting looking around, he noticed that it was already dark. He saw the river to his left. Looking up, most of the cliff face was blocking the sky. He knew he was completely lost. "Carrie, CARRIE!!", he thought. No response. He felt his head, and realized the device that Carrie made was not there. "CRAP!" Tsuike exclaimed.

Looking at the fire, he saw the boss putting wet wood in the fire. The wood caught fire instantly when it touched the fire. Tsuike thought this was odd, but decided to test the boss further. Noticing that both of their clothes were wet, he took off his shirt, and proceeded to stretch his legs toward the fire. "You should take off your clothes." The boss only shook his head. "If you don't, you'll catch a cold. You know that we'll both need to be at full health to survive out here." The boss hesitated, and then took off "his" hood. His stare was met by warm, red eyes. There was a girl looking staring back at him. "I knew it!" Tsuike exclaimed.

"How'd you know?" The girl asked back, taking off the robe completely.

"Whoa! I didn't know you could talk!"

"Of course I can."

"Why did you hide your identity?"

"Well, in the first place, this place is kind of sexist. They wouldn't listen to me if they knew I was a girl."

"They would have known the first time they ever saw your face."

"This is the first time in eight years anyone but me has seen my face." She blushed. "How's it look?"

Taking stock of her really for the first time, he was speechless at her beauty. Her being soaking wet didn't help. All Tsuike could manage to say was, "Wow."

"I'll take that as a good sign."

Tsuike managed to regain his composure. "Why hasn't anyone seen your face?"

"Because of my red eyes. They don't bother you?"

"No. I kinda like them.", Tsuike shrugged, "They look different. Why would they bother me?"

"Well, my parents...wait, I don't even know your name!"

"It's Tsuike. Tsuike Novaus"

"Okay, Mr. Novaus..."

"No, just call me Tsuike."

"Okay...Tsuike, my name is Saya Drament. Now turn around and don't peek. I've got to get out of these clothes."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU CAN NOT FIND LIFESIGNS FOR HIM!!", Akari yelled so loud that the bird scattered.

The hologram of Carrie flinched. "All right, that was unnecessary. His terminal is not responding."

Kori jumped in on the mental conversation, "You mean he's dead?"

"No, not necessarily. According to my readings, he and the terminal became separated about the time when I sensed that explosion. I think it was just knocked off of him." Carrie responded.

"Well, find him, or you will have to answer to us." Kori and Akari threatened, simultaneously.

"It's not you I'm worried about." Carrie said, thinking of Lady Novaus. "I'm teleporting you back to the ship for now." The bright light enveloped Kori and Akari.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

Tsuike and Saya sat back to back by the fire, in their underwear. Their clothes were laid out near the fire, drying. "So you mean to tell me I'm a princess?"

"Yeah. The fact that those Greks deliberately chased after us responds to that fact."

"Good, that's so much better than being a demon."

"Okay, WHAT???!!!"

"Let me explain. My adoptive parents took care of me since I was little. However, my red eyes always made them feel uncomfortable. However, when I was eight I discovered I could do something special."

"What?"

"Okay, look to your left." Tsuike saw Saya's hand come into view, with a wet branch in her hand. All of a sudden, her hand tensed, and the branch caught on fire. "I can control fire. Add red eyes to that mix and it makes a recipe for panic." Saya laughed dryly as she brought her knees to her chest. "My parents left, leaving me cable and radio, but never leaving any food. They took all the food with them when they left. I guess they thought I was some kind of demon. I learned how to hunt using a spear me and my dad made, and cooked what I caught based on when my mom taught me how to cook. They checked in on me from time to see if I died. I never did, which probably added to their suspicions. Essentially I was raised by TV."

Tsuike didn't know what to say. "Are you really okay with how that turned out?"

"Well, I wasn't their child in the first place, so I'm glad that they took care of me for so long. Anyway, let's change the subject. How did you know I was a girl?"

"Well, in the first place you smell like a girl. When you walked past the first time I saw you I thought that was odd. Then you never talked. Plus, when I saw you bathing..."

"YOU SAW ME NAKED!?"

"No, you were too far away and when I figured out you were naked I turned away. Of course, that didn't stop you from almost killing me with those rocks. Back to the reason, when I saw you bathing I thought it was odd, because there is a river closer to the girls camp. You were closer to the guys side. The robe was a giveaway and the final reason I needed was that when we fell, your hood smelled nice. Too nice for a guy. All these plus the fact that you didn't want to undress led me to believe you were a girl."

"Good job. I don't think that any of these people would have noticed that I was a girl all this time. They're always thinking about hunting. I guess we should get some sleep. Can we sleep back to back? You're nice and all, but I'm not necessarily sure I can trust you."

"Well, to answer your first question, I don't know if that's physically possible."

Saya stood up, and grabbed her robe. Sitting back down with her back against Tsuike's, Saya said, "This should keep us warm. It's long, so I had to wrap it around myself a couple times so that it wouldn't look weird. Here." Saya reached one end behind her, to Tsuike, who then reached it back around to her. "It's enough for a full revolution, but I don't think that it'll stay once we fall asleep."

Tsuike then took the entire robe. "Then let's try this." Tsuike started off and reached it to her. She then wrapped it around herself and gave the end to Tsuike. "If you're wondering why, I can pretty much sleep through anything, it's okay if it comes loose on my end."

"Thanks. I take back what I said earlier, I think I can trust you. That doesn't mean that I changed my mind about sleeping back to back, though."

Tsuike smiled, even though Saya could not see him. "Fine, but don't blame me if anything happens."

"Don't worry, if you do something, the rocks won't miss this time."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

It was morning. Small streams of light shone through the parts of the cliff. "Well, what'll ya know, it is physically possible to sleep sitting back to back with someone." Saya was lightly snoozing behind Tsuike. Tsuike shook, trying to wake Saya up. "Saya...SAYA!! Wake up!"

"Huh...what?" Saya began to wake up. Forgetting the events of the day before, she jumped up and took her robe with her. She made a small scream, and covered herself up. Before she realized what she was doing, she picked up her spear and extended it, and swung it at Tsuike, who promptly rolled away to dodge the first blow.

"What'd I do?"

Saya realized what was going on, and lowered her spear. "I'm sorry, it's been a long time since I've been anywhere near anyone when I woke up." She began to get dressed. Tsuike, however, continued to back off, teasingly. "Oh come on, I'm sorry. ~I'll fix you breakfast.~"

"I guess that'll be okay."

"Good, can I borrow your sword for a second?"

"Uh, sure."

"Go ahead and get dressed. I'll be done soon."

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

Back at the ship...

"More bad news!" Carrie's announcement woke both Akari and Kori up. Without asking, Carrie teleported them both to the bridge.

Akari glared at Carrie. "You are in such big..."

"I know, but we've got bigger problems. There are a really large number of Baels combing the area. What's even worse is the fact that whatever is there, is also blocking my sensors. I won't be able to teleport Tsuike out even if I found him!"

Kori jumped in, "So what do we do now?"

"I need you two to teleport in, find Tsuike by sight, and work together to destroy whatever is blocking my sensors. Can you do that?"

"Yeah, I believe that we can." Kori replied

"Yes, we can." Akari chimed in. "Now about the way that you just teleported us in here..."

"Actually, I know that Hectarian would teleport you into a cold bath to wake you up when you were late for royal matters. Would you rather me have done that?"

"No..." Akari replied sheepishly.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"Oh my god this is GOOD!" Tsuike sat, eating a fish that had been grilled by Saya. "No bones, no scales, and you even managed to give it that smoked flavor. And what is this flavor I'm detecting in the background?"

"Pine Needles. I'm glad you like it." Saya was eating a fish as well. "They are actually very good for you. I cooked it by using the end of my spear as a skillet. The way that my spear is made, it is all metal, and it expands from the blade, with the staff part coming down out of the bladed part. That means that the staff part is actually smaller around than the blade. When I cook with the bladed part and the staff extended, only the blade gets hot, and expands slightly, not transferring the heat toward the bottom part of the spear, therefore, keeping me from burning myself.. When I use my energy, each part of the spear expands, sending the energy through the blade. When the heat makes the metal from each section expand, which allows each part to transfer heat to the blade."

"Ingenious, but why do you worry about burning yourself if you control fire?"

"..." Saya turned bright red, and continued to eat her fish, quietly.

Tsuike stood up, finishing his fish. "Anyway, I think we should hurry up and get going. We need to find the camp so we can get back home."

"Okay..." Suddenly, Saya tensed. A Bael came crashing through the bush. Saya swept under it, throwing it up into the air. Then Tsuike slashed through it as it came near him, focusing energy through his blade. The Bael flew into the river, and detonated.

"I get the feeling that this trip just got a lot harder. Come on." Tsuike and Saya began to run through the forest, fighting Baels along the way

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

Shrapnel lay all over the forest. "Okay, I really did misjudge you at first." Kori said, firing an icicle toward another Bael. "You've really got some endurance. I thought you were spoiled at first."

Akari swung her hammer downward, crushing one Bael. She then raised a very thin barrier in front of herself. The Bael that was charging her cut itself in half on it. "No, the royal family of Uragin is always on the front lines. We are trained very rigorously to be able to handle long lengths of combat. Even though he has not trained any, you can tell that Tsuike has a lot of endurance."

They both leaned against a tree, watching carefully, yet still taking a break. "So that makes fourteen for me, and...fourteen for you. Whoever wins has to serve the other for a week, right?" Akari asked.

"Yep. And in the case of a tie Tsuike has to make the decision when we find him." Kori dusted herself off. By the way, the energy that you use to create barriers is just energy, right?"

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"Right..." Akari said warily.

"So, what is your element?"

"I can create and destroy minor amounts of matter."

"Oh, so you are of the Light element."

"You are definitely too smart for your own good. Light energy is dangerous to use in battle without proper training, so I need a little bit more before I can use it proficiently.

NOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVAUS

"Sounds like they aren't trying to find us quietly, are they?" Tsuike said, listening to the sounds of crashing and smashing that was not to far away from where they were. Suddenly, the sounds stopped. "Come on, lets see if we can catch them by surprise."

Sneaking through the brush as quietly as they could, Tsuike and Saya headed for the area where the crashing was heard a couple minutes ago. Hearing familiar voices, Tsuike stopped trying to ambush the voices. However, Saya continued to sneak up on the two unsuspecting voices.

Readying her spear, she jumped out from behind the bushes. Kori jumped, and shot ice energy at Saya. Saya slashed at the energy with her spear, sending her own energy through the spear to counteract the ice. Kori straightened, and said, "That's the girl we were looking for!"

At that moment, Tsuike walked through the bush as well. "Hi guys. Nice to see you two again." Saya hid behind Tsuike. "You know these two?" She asked him softly. "Yeah, " he replied, "Why are you hiding behind me?" "Well, I'm kinda afraid of girls."

The three of them just stared at Saya. "What? I think that with the way that girls act today, there is a legitimate reason for being afraid." They continued to stare, silently. "Well, they are a lot sneakier than guys are. Guys are so much more straightforward."

Tsuike realized what was going on, "OHHH! You can't really trust what's in the media. It's not really all that true." Kori and Akari looked at each other, then away. Kori then spoke up, "Well, maybe..."

All of a sudden, there was a crashing through the bush, as a fourteen foot long, three foot wide mechanical snake burst through the clearing. Swinging it's tail, it hit Tsuike in the ribs dead center, sending him against a tree, and knocking the wind out of him. Tsuike fell forward and wrapped his arms around his chest, trying to catch his breath.

Kori growled, and raised her hand toward the snake. As she did so, the snake raised it's tail, and started to rattle it. Akari sensed the disturbance in the air, and tried to stop Kori. "Do not try to fire! Stop!" She was too late. Kori fired a smaller icicle than she aimed for, and it melted in mid air. Kori yelped in pain, and looked at her hand. The points where she focused her energy had opened into wounds. The snake lowered it's tail, and turned to try to strike at Kori.

Saya came around behind the snake and tried to impale it, but her spear deflected off the creatures tough scales. As she was about to try to focus her energy through her spear the snake lifted it's tail and began to rattle it again. Akari then yelled, "Energy is useless! When the tail rattles, you will receive wounds from using energy!"

Tsuike then tried to pierce the snake, but could not get through the scales with his sword as well. "Then what do we do?" He then remembered the hunters words, "Sometimes to protect those who are important to you you have to put yourself in harms way." Tsuike sheathed his sword to remove the metal blade. He then ran at the snake, and when it struck out at him, he feinted right. When the snake saw that it missed, it swiped at him with it's tail. This was the chance Tsuike was waiting for. Focusing, he brought Seretion's blade to life, cutting off the tail of the snake. Blood ran down his arms as a result of the energy he focused. "I think we're good now!" Tsuike yelled out.

"All right then!" Saya twirled her spear around her, running at the snake. When it struck at her, she swung her spear, sending a fire wave out of the head of her spear. The snake moved as to avoid having it's head cut in half, and instead had it's head cut off. Akari and Kori both ran at the creature at the instant, and jumping together. Kori brought her staff down on the creature's head while covering the impacting end with as much ice energy as she could muster, turning it into a mace, while Akari swung her hammer as hard as she could augmenting it's weight with her light energy, modifying it's mass. Their attacks landed together, crushing the head out of existence.

"That wasn't so bad." Tsuike said waveringly. He dropped the hilt of Seretion . "Yeah, this feeling isn't pleasant." Tsuike said, looking at his arms.

"Oh! Carrie, teleport us to the ship, we have Tsuike and the girl." Akari said out loud.

"My name is Saya." Saya managed to say before the white light enveloped them.


	11. Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten

Carrie appeared in front of Tsuike, Akari and Saya as they arrived on the ship.. "I sent Kori to the infirmary, and I'm gonna need one of you to... Tsuike! What the happened?! I'm sending you all to the infirmary!"

When the three of them arrived, Akari took charge. "Okay, Saya, was it? I am going to need you to take care of Kori's hand while I take care of Tsuike's arm."

Saya shook her head no. "I'd rather wrap up Tsuike's."

"Fine, Fine, you can work on Tsuike's arm."

They each both Saya and Akari began their tasks in silence. A couple of minutes passed. Then Akari broke the ice by yelling at Tsuike. "Why did you use your energy?! Even after I told you that it was dangerous! You saw what happened to Kori, did you not?"

Tsuike turned slightly to look at Akari while she was talking. "If I didn't do something, we were all going to be killed by that thing."

"No, you don't understand. That was Chaos that it was emitting."

"What is Chaos?" Kori jumped in.

"Chaos is a particle. It joins to energy and absorbs it. However, the travel speed of energy through our bodies faster than the speed of the Chaos' consumption. In other words, it binds itself to particles when it is traveling through your body. When it exits your body through the gaps between molecules, the Chaos rips apart the skin, creating a wound. With normal and elemental energy you take damage proportional to the amount of energy used. That is what happened to Kori. However, the energy you use to use that sword is not basic energy, but energy that only royal Ura can use. It is what allows royal Ura to interface with Iragi Technology. It is quite obvious that that sword that you carry around is a key- something that allows you to interface with Iragi technology on a mental level, creating a connection." Akari explained, her attention to the task at hand slipping.

"Ngh!" Kori flinched, reacting to the disinfectant.

"I am almost done disinfecting the wound and now is when you feel it?!" Akari chastised.

"Anyway, " Tsuike interrupted, "How can it create a blade as well if all it is meant for is to be a key?"

"The Ura energy is actually a lot more complicated. Even the current King and Queen know little about where it comes from. When making a key, you can actually customize it to do different things. They aren't just for interfacing with technology, they also act as a medium for that special energy. Kori's bracelet uses a little Royal energy to amplify her energy attacks. Do you remember how I said that all basic energy has to have a medium? My basic energy, plus some royal energy, with a little help from my key, " she lifted her bangs and pointed to her headband, "Creates a pretty solid barrier with varying densities depending on the amount of energy put trough it."

"So if Royal energy is so great, why not use it all the time?" Tsuike asked.

"Some do eventually get strong enough to use it, but it is very dangerous to try to use energy like that constantly without training. However, Royal energy is more intertwined with your system than your normal or elemental energy. When Chaos attaches to Royal energy, it affects the entire body part that the energy is being channeled through. It tends to cause three times as much of the normal damage to that particular body part. You could kill yourself if you had used that sword for five minutes under the influence of Chaos."

"So where does Chaos come from?" Saya asked.

"No one really knows, or rather, it is a top secret matter. Real Chaos is more damaging than fake Chaos, but is very rare. It is near impossible to find in this dimension. That was artificial Chaos that that snake was emitting. Artificial Chaos is created in a generator using random particles of matter, antimatter, and gamma rays, bouncing around. The constant collision of the different particles creates the artificial Chaos. There, I am done. It shouldn't take too long to heal now."

"I'm done too. How does it feel?" Saya asked Tsuike.

"It's a little tight, but I can deal." Tsuike responded.

"Good, 'cause I need to see you in the lab." Carrie interrupted.

"There is a lab?" Tsuike asked, before he was teleported away.

"As you know, your old key is gone. Without it you won't be able to interface with any systems." Carrie began as soon as he appeared.

"What do you mean? I thought that Seretion was a key?"

"Well, you can't use Seretion that way. It's definitely different from your garden variety key, but I haven't quite figured out how yet. I am going to get with Saya later, but I thought that you need to get a new key made as soon as possible. Saya is going to need nanomachines before I can make her a key. That means she needs a physical. But enough about that. What do you want your key to do?"

Tsuike began to pace the floor, crossing his arms as he did so. "Well, I think it would be cool to wield two blades at once."

"So it'll be a sword then..."

"And I'd also like to connect the two together to make one double ended weapon."

"That is also possible..."

"And I'd also like to be able to connect the two of them to create a sort of blade able to fire condensed energy. Sorta like a gun blade."

"You done yet?"

"Nope, I'd also like it to be able to transform into a pair of sunglasses when I am not using it."

"..."

"..."

"..So are you done yet?"

"Yeah. So is it possible?"

"Well, yeah..."

"But...?"

"Well, One: Due to the fact that it will probably take a decade of training to be able to use your Royal energy proficiently, you will have to use continue to use metal blades, which means you will have to wear two sheathes, even though you it'll look like you only have one sword. While we are on the subject of power, it won't touch the true energy output of Seretion." Carrie paused for a second. "Two: You will have to have staff training with Kori. I'm sure she will agree. That way I know I will be able to trust you with blades on both ends. And last but not least, I will need you to take a marksman test. It will take a while to be able to make your key. But you are going to have to have at least an 88% accuracy total. That is 44 out of 50 total targets. On moving targets you must have a 76% accuracy rate. I'll administer that later."

"How'd you know that that was what I wanted?

A hologram of Lady Novaus appeared. "Because you are kinda predictable. Let's get this conference call started!"

A hologram of Kori, Akari and Saya from the infirmary appeared as well.

"We are all here, milady." Akari bowed respectfully.

"Don't do that. Now, I know Kori and Akari should know something about space and physics, not just the theories and guesses of the so-called intellectuals on planets that are behind in development. However, I know that Tsuike and Saya more than likely do not. With that in mind, I would like to introduce someone."

Two more holograms appeared. A tall man with black unkempt hair, glasses, and stubble appeared, wearing machinery on his arms. "Standing" next to him was a slightly shorter woman with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail. She was wearing machinery on her wrists. They both looked like they were in their early thirties. "I'd like to introduce Kannu and Syerie." Surprisingly, she "pointed" to the hologram of the man and said, "This is Kannu. He's the head of the engineering department at the Uragin Development Facility. He specializes in physical design and aerodynamics."

Kannu waved his hand. "Yo."

The woman who had to be Syerie smacked Kannu upside his head. "Come on, behave yourself! We are in front of the Royal family." Kannu shook his head and responded, "Yeah, yeah. Nice to meet you and whatnot."

Lady Novaus coughed, and the two ended their minor quarrel. "And Syerie is the head of the research department of the the Uragin Development Facility. She specializes in energy conservation, generation and consumption."

Syerie bowed. "It's nice to meet you, Prince Tsuike."

Tsuike shook his head. "I'm honored and all, but don't call me Prince. Tsuike is just fine. It's nice to meet the both of you, but why are we meeting?"

Lady Novaus smiled. "Isn't it obvious? Just because your school was destroyed and you are about to leave earth doesn't mean you don't have school anymore. These two will be your teachers. Formally they are Kannu and Syerie Scientia. Starting tomorrow you are to report to the communication room for school."

Kori jumped in, "You two have the same last name, so does that mean that the two of you are married?"

"NO!" They both screamed at the same time. Then Syerie continued, "We are brother and sister. No way will we ever be married."

"ANYWAY, " Lady Novaus interrupted, "There are two more people to introduce you to." Another hologram of a man appeared. Standing at attention, or as close to it without being at attention, he stood decked out in all green. His hair was short and kept, and his eyes were small, but piercing. "This is Virgalant Fiernace. He is over the sector of the galaxy that you are in for now. He does not wish to speak, but if you need anything, let him know. " Virgalant bowed slightly, and his hologram then disappeared. "Last but certainly not least... " Lady Novaus began. However, she was interrupted by a voice familiar to Tsuike. "I actually believe I can introduce myself." A man who looked to be in his forties interrupted. He was taller than most people, with straight brown hair. His eyes were brown and soft, but they did seem to have a fire behind them, especially when his gaze was fixed upon Tsuike.

"...Dad?!" Even though his father looked totally different, Tsuike could tell it was him by the sound of his voice and the look in his eyes. "Yeah, it's me. From this point on, you have to really fight. Me and your mother are now law bound to not help you."

Akari jumped in, "So that means that you two have become king and queen of Uragin?"

Queen Novaus answered, "Yes, that is true. Now, on to the last bit of business. We detected another Princess signal, but this one is coming from another planet. The planet that was once under your father's jurisdiction before the attack on our fleet sixteen years ago. You are headed to Planet Tackard. Apparently this planet is in the middle of a civil war right now, so be careful. Carrie!"

"Yes, my queen?"

"I am ordering Tsuike, Saya, and Kori to the bridge. Akari may go along if she so wishes. Remember Carrie, they are first timers. Make sure that the bridge settings reflect such."

"Yes, my queen." As she agreed, all the holograms disappeared. Tsuike was then swallowed by a bright light...

Tsuike appeared in a carpeted room. Looking around, he saw consoles with clear diagrams of different parts of the ship. In front of those consoles he saw chairs of varying comfortability and size. Behind him, he saw a noticeably larger chair with one chair on each side. The chair had a blinking light on the right arm. Tsuike began to walk toward the chair, drawn by the light.

Another flash of light, but this one was larger. Out of it stepped Akari, Saya, and Kori. "Do not touch that chair. It is the captain's chair. Obviously, you are on the bridge to the ship." Akari said when she noticed Tsuike. Walking in front of Tsuike, she sat in the captains chair. As she did so, the blinking light stopped. Akari closed her eyes for a second. As she reopened them, several holographic diagrams appeared in front of her. A Carrie hologram appeared and said, "I'll leave the settings and actual takeoff to you, Mistress Akari." The Carrie hologram disappeared once again. Akari took one of the diagrams and moved it directly in front of herself. Touching a portion of it, a second hologram with a keyboard appeared. She began to type, and as she did so, comfortable chairs formed out of the vines that had been seen before, but after these took the shape of a chair, they morphed into something more metallic. After that, cushions formed on the chairs. "Please, sit." Akari said, motioning toward the chairs, but not looking up. As she continued to type, the back lighting of the bridge died down, making the bridge dark, bathed only in the light of the blue holographic displays. The typing continued, and the bridge no longer seemed to be there, if it weren't for the chairs and diagrams that could still be seen. It looked as if they were sitting in the forest behind Tsuike's house. Tsuike and Saya were in awe over what had just transpired, having never seen anything like it in their lives. "Okay, we are all ready here, Carrie. 1/8 of normal takeoff speed."

"Inertial dampeners?"

"I did not like being forced back into my seat my first time, so yes, inertial dampeners."

"Okay, 5..."

"Can we just get on with it? The wait is quite annoying."

"Yes, mistress."

Suddenly, the ground that seemed to be right below them began to become smaller as the ship took off. The roaring engine sounds that Tsuike expected was not heard, as the ship ascended faster and faster. "Oh crap!" Tsuike said, remembering his fear of heights. "Do not worry, you have nothing to fear." Akari said, trying to console Tsuike. As they rose above the clouds, the blue hue of the sky faded to black, and everyone got a good look at space. The small shining beacons in the sky seemed to call out to each of them. "Your first takeoff is always special. Ura has more of a green hue, as the planet's water is normally underground, and it is covered in forests. But your planet has it's own charm." Akari said, looking downward. The three of them shifted their eyesight downward, and saw the azure sphere floating upon nothing beneath them. The three of them drew in breaths of appreciation of the sight that they were beholding.

Carrie interrupted the sightseeing. "Okay. It will take a day or so to reach our destination. I believe that the four of you should get some rest to prepare for tomorrow. However, I need to see Tsuike on the training field so that I can administer your marksman test, and I need to see Saya in the infirmary so that I can give you a physical and get the specifications for your key. Akari and Kori, I will see you in the morning. All four of your quarters have been prepared and can be rearranged according to your specifications."

The next morning in a classroom in the communication part of the ship....

Tsuike, Kori, Akari and Saya were all sitting in chairs with holographic keyboards and screens in front of them, waiting for class to start.

"Wow, you got a 98% on the marksman test?!" Akari exclaimed.

"Yeah," Tsuike responded, "I just missed the first shot. How'd your physical go, Saya?"

Saya blushed and looked away. "Wait! I didn't mean it like that! I meant what did you ask for in your key?"

"Oh." Saya said softly. "I wanted to be able to encase my elemental energy inside of energy to keep the heat from spreading. That way I can make certain things really hot, and it'll also increase the effectiveness of my attacks."

"What is it going to look like?" Akari chimed in.

"I like the headband you wear, so I want it to be a ribbon I can wear in my hair." Saya responded.

"That's a good idea. I think that it would look good on you. By the way, that was a really good breakfast this morning. I'm really glad we have a healthy cook now." Kori said, still eating some of the fresh bread.

"Thank you." Saya stopped and looked down. "I'm glad you're a lot nicer than all the girls you see on TV..."

A hologram of Syerie appeared. "Settle down class. Today we will go over elemental energy. Okay first off, what elemental energy is best used for propulsion in space travel?"

Tsuike and Saya looked at each other and shrugged. "Fire?" They both said tentatively.

"Fire needs oxygen to give it power, which we know that in space, there is an absence of. Unfortunately, that answer is incorrect."

Akari spoke up next. "Light energy." She said, confident that her answer was correct.

"Light energy is the more stable energy source, but unfortunately that answer is incorrect too."

Kori spoke up last. "Dark energy is best used."

"Correct. Even though Dark energy is unstable, the creation and destruction of antimatter is better in propulsion than light energy. I see we have to start off at the basics of the basics. Akari, can you tell me what are the basic elemental types?

Akari stood, trying to make up for her incorrect answer before. "Yes. Light, Dark, Fire, Ice, Water, Nature, Earth, Lightning, and Wind."

"That is correct. Now each intelligent being has an affinity for a certain element. I understand that Kori is of the Ice element, correct?"

"Yes ma'am." Kori held out her hand with her palm pointed upwards. A ball of ice formed in her hand and just floated before it disappeared, dropping her hand as she did so.

"Good. Now does that mean that you are only limited to that one element, Kori?"

"No." Kori held out her hand in the same fashion as before, and concentrated noticeably harder. A ball of green swirling energy of the same size as the ice ball appeared in her hand.

"Ooh, nature. Good job, Kori. What she just demonstrated was molecular shaping. Just as our minds and bodies develop the ability to breathe, our bodies have the inborn ability of shaping the molecules to some whim, giving us an affinity to an element. It's like our bodies are that element to a degree. However, there is a drawback to this. Tsuike is of the lightning element. If he were to try to form something of the earth element, the devastating effects of creating that element would cause as much damage as if he were using energy while chaos was floating around in the air! Getting hit with earth energy would be even more devastating, and more than likely fatal for Tsuike. This is what we call an elemental weakness. Every basic element has a weakness, except for fire, which has two. For Light there is Dark and vice versa. For Fire there is Water and Earth. For Ice there is Fire. For Water there is Lightning. For Nature there is Fire. For Earth there is Nature. For Lightning there is Earth. And for Wind there is Ice."

Tsuike raised his hand. "You keep saying basic element. What do you mean by that?"

Syerie responded. "Good question. There are other elements that don't necessarily rely on molecules for their formation. Time and Gravity are some examples of that."

Kori then raised her hand. "Are there exceptions to the elemental weakness rule?"

Syerie looked expectantly at Kori. "Is there some reason that you ask that question?"

"Well..." Kori held her hand out one more time, and closed her eyes. She wrinkled her brow, and focused a lot of her energy to the palm of her hand. A ball of fire appeared in her hand.

"Thank you Kori. Even though this is a little advanced, there are exceptions to the elemental weakness rule. Even though you can form fire energy, you cannot get hit with it, correct?"

"Yeah." Kori said, releasing her tension and letting the ball of fire disappear. Sweating, she tried to catch her breath.

"Would you mind taking off your bracelet and showing the underside to the rest of the class?" Kori then took off her key, and showed the underside to the rest of the class. There was a small white gem in the underside. "As I thought, that gem allows you to be able to create energy that would normally harm you without effects, right? That means you come from..."

"Please stop right there." Kori said, putting her key back on. "Anyway, I have another question. If everyone has an element, and all of us princesses were all one at one point in time, and each of us is energy combined with a part of the original princesses' mind, how can both me and Saya exist? Wouldn't the part that is me have a weakness to the part that is her?"

"Normally yes. But originally, the princess exhibited the uncanny ability to be able to control all elements. That made her an exception. That was also one of the reasons she was betrothed to Tsuike at such a young age. Normally you would wait until the two who were to be promised to each other were about two or three years of age, but in this case that decision was made when they, I mean you, were about two weeks old. Don't ask, it's just too much to explain, and then the fact that most of it is top secret doesn't help. Why the princess had that kind of power or why the decision was made I do not know. Anyway, are there anymore questions?"

"I have a question. If you look at me, I am full Urian. However, Kori is half Urian and half something else, and Saya is Half Urian and Half Human. How is that possible if the original princess was Full Urian?" Akari asked.

"Well, just like we pick up certain traits from our environment, you all adapted to the one who took care of you when you first split. Akari had human foster parents, therefore she adapted to being half human. It is actually a part of that splitting process. The mind made sure the body was complete. We still don't quite understand this yet. We'd have to study all of you for that. That will be all. Class is dismissed." The Syerie hologram disappeared.

Tsuike stood and stretched. "Well, that was a lot of information to digest. Let's get something to eat."

"Nope." A hologram of Carrie appeared. "Akari and Saya can go. You and Kori still have to go through training. Then again, we might as well have Akari teach Saya how to control her energy. Please report to the Gym/Sparring room."

An hour of intense training later...

Carrie's voice could be heard all throughout the ship. "Please go ahead and take a shower. After that, come to the bridge in about twenty minutes."

Twenty minutes later...

"Good, you all are here." Carrie's voice was heard, but her hologram didn't show up. "Sorry about the fact you can't see me. I seemed to have overused Hectarian's holographic generator. I should have that fixed soon. Anyway, if you will direct your attention to the view screen. The big screen ahead of the four of them changed from a pitch black screen to an image of a planet. This is Planet Tackard. The planet's land is 46% desert with underlying Zhing, some of the most precious metal in the universe, 44% covered by fertile farming areas, and 10% covered by thick forest. The the two major lands are actually led by two separate governments. The smaller, forested land sits between them. The planet is one large island, with the composition of the planets metals causing the different changes in climate. Originally, this planet was a part of the LOIB, or League of Intelligent Beings for those who do not know. Over 80 years ago, this planet broke into civil war over sharing of resources or something like that. This war went on for 62 years. To settle this, the LOIB sent in a neutral party to lead. The neutral party was Taryan N. Taryan found a way to get the rulers to work together. Meanwhile, the leaders of of the two separate government died in an assassination attempt on Prince Taryan's life. However, 16 years ago, Taryan, his wife, and his twin children came under attack. Presuming him to be dead, the LOIB decided that the death of the previous leaders meant an end to the civil tension. However, when the children of the previous regime took over, they decided to continue the nearly century old feud. They pulled out of the LOIB and considered any interference by any planet within it's ranks or Uragin as an act of war. Be careful while you are there. By the way, Tsuike, your new key is ready." A sheathe appeared at his side and sunglasses with a sliver frame and blue lenses appeared on his head. "The gun feature is enabled, but combining the weapons to make them double bladed is disabled for now."

"Thanks, but I have two questions. One: Who is the LOIB, and two: Who is Taryan?" Tsuike asked while looking around, not sure of where to focus his question.

Kori spoke up first. "The short answer to your first question is a coalition of space faring planets banding together to protect themselves from invaders. Uragin is NOT a part of the LOIB, because some governments wanted Uragin to share their power and technology, which Uragin refused. Why? We don't know."

Akari finished up. "And a short answer to two is: Your father, King Taryan Novaus. Married to Queen Dayko Novaus, rulers of Uragin."

Tsuike started to exclaim "Wha...!?", but Carrie interrupted him by saying, "We don't have time for you to be shocked, a skirmish was detected in the general area of the princess. You will have to go down there and find her on foot. Good Luck." A bright light engulfed the bridge and the four of them disappeared.


	12. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

"What's with all of the forests?" Tsuike said, looking around.

"I don't know, but it feels like home to me." Saya sat down on the grass.

Suddenly, explosions could be heard in the distance. "What is going on?" Akari asked the air. A holographic letter appeared in front of the four of them. It said, "Sorry, but we must maintain radio silence while there is any fighting in the area. If they find out that you are here, it'll cause an interplanetary incident. Signed, Carrie."

"Great, we have no idea what we are getting into. She's becoming a bit of a pain." Kori sighed. The explosions came closer and closer, throwing dust clouds into the air. An energy blast impacted the ground about 100 feet from Tsuike. "Everybody on your toes!" He yelled out. Men wearing silver uniforms came charging through the brush. Carrying rifles, they fired energy blasts toward the four. Dodging the blasts, Tsuike and Saya ran at the troops. Cutting the energy rifles in half, they knocked out the troops. "Looks Tackanians still depend too much on their weapons." Akari said.

Hearing yelling coming from behind them, the four turned to see troops wearing running at them through the forest. Kori knelt, placing one hand on the ground and had the other palm facing the left most troop. Closing her eyes, she focused energy at the ground, and also fired energy with her other hand, sweeping it to the right. The first wave of ice energy started traveling along the ground and froze the troop's feet, while the other wave of ice energy became ice blocks that struck the troops in the head, knocking them out cold. "Really, these are the same weapons you would have seen years ago. You think they would have upgraded by now." Akari remarked.

"She's here, and headed toward us." Kori said, looking off to the left of the group. There they saw a girl in a green open jacket and miniskirt, with brown pants and shirt running through the forest effortlessly. Her hair was blond, pulled back in a short ponytail. As she ran, she jumped, and turned in the air. She pulled the bow off her back, and fired an arrow into the air behind her. She continued jumping backwards as she landed, firing arrows constantly. "How the heck does she do that? Tsuike asked, fascinated by her movements. The group began to run after her, trying to catch her attention.

They all reached a small clearing. Then they saw what she was firing arrows at. A giant humanoid robot was in pursuit. Twenty feet tall, the robot was holding a larger version of the energy rifles that they had seen earlier. "Well, that is new." Akari replied. The rifle the robot was holding was sparking and had several arrows embedded in it. It threw away the rifle, and tried to stomp it's assailants. They all scrambled. Saya jumped, and focused fire energy into her spear, aiming for the head. At the same time, the girl fired an arrow into it's left leg joint, as Kori fired an icicle into the right joint. As the robot's knees buckled, Tsuike took his sunglasses off the top of his head. They changed into the hilt of a sword, which Tsuike then shoved into his second hilt on his left side. Pulling out both swords, he shoved them into the back of the robot and focused electrical energy through them. A part of the torso shot high into the air as the robot began to spark. Tsuike and Saya both jumped off, and they all ran for the safety of the forest. The robot exploded, and everyone was thrown to the ground by the explosion. "Come on! I know where we can hide out for a while!" The girl yelled.

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

"It seems that the Huntress has appeared again."

"Well, what do you want me to do about it?"

"Take care of it. She managed to take down one of our "suits" this time without one of her own. She seems to be getting a lot stronger."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

After entering a cave they walked for some distance. After a while, it seemed as if they were in a hangar. "What makes you think that we are not enemies?" Akari asked the girl.

"What? No name? I guess you Uras don't have any manners. My name is Milia."

"Fine, MIL-LI-A. My name is Akari. Now why do you not think we are enemies?"

"Because just about anyone can recognize the stupid Uragin princess anywhere."

"What did you say?!"

"You aren't welcome here! Almost everyone hates Uragin's guts! You didn't even try to stop this war. YOU ACTUALLY STARTED IT! This is the only amount of help you will get here, Ura!" Milia attempted to storm off, but ended up leaning against the wall, holding her left side.

"Do you need help?" Tsuike asked, reaching for her.

"No, STAY BACK!" She threw her hand back, sending a gale of wind back at them. She staggered away, continuing to hold her side.

"You'll have to forgive her. She hasn't exactly had the easiest childhood." A middle aged man walked into the room. "Anyone on this planet can pretty much pick Uras out of a lineup. And the fact that she is half Tackanian and half Urian doesn't really help. As you probably already figured out, most people on this planet don't like Uras. This planet was one of the planets that wanted Uragin to share it's technology with everyone else." Tsuike chased after the Milia, leaving the other three to talk.

"So why would everyone hate us then?" Akari asked.

"Because Tackard is one of the planets that was forced to share it's technology. That's why the western side is mainly mining and manufacturing, they supply most of the weapons for the galaxy. The fact that Tackard was forced to share and Uragin was not made things all the worse."

Kori, who was quiet before, spoke up. "Ki... I mean, Mr. Falian, what was that giant robot we saw before?"

The man named Falian chuckled. "I guess I can't underestimate you, Ms..."

"You can call me Ms. Priene."

"Alright, Ms. Priene, as you know, we cut ourselves off from the LOIB sixteen years ago. We designed..."

"You mean, you designed." Kori butted in.

"Yes, I designed a new weapon using Zhing, that could be personalized depending on the pilot's fighting preferences. I made it to put a quick end to this war. However, instead of creating a standstill, it just made the war escalate."

Akari jumped in. "What more is there to this weapon?"

"Well, princess, it is called a Zexis. It takes the pilots movements and transmits them to the exoskeleton. Most of the mass produced ones can only use energy rifles, but a couple specially made ones use different weapons." Suddenly, the lights illuminated the hangar. A brown and green Zexis similar to the one that chased them before was on one knee behind Falian. "This one I made for Milia when she was younger. It has about four hidden daggers, a cache of metal arrows, and a bow capable of making energy arrows on it for weaponry. To mimic her unique movements, it has thrusters going up the legs in each of the joints. I call it Hunter Zex."

"What makes you think you can tell us that? What if we were the enemy?" Akari asked.

"If you were, Princess Lionne, Milia would never have let you in here."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Milia was sitting on a bed in a tiny infirmary, with her back to the door. She was trying to apply disinfectant to her wound. She would get an inch away, but then pull back. "Didn't I say to stay back?" She asked Tsuike, who was standing silently in the doorway.

"Yeah, but I don't think you will ever get it done that way." Tsuike walked over to her and reached for the cloth. Milia flinched and backed away, subconsciously reacting to his movement. "Okay, okay." Tsuike turned his palm over. "May I?" Milia scowled at Tsuike, but reluctantly handed over the cloth. "Okay, here goes." Tsuike began to apply the disinfectant to Milia's wound. After a couple of seconds of silence, Tsuike asked, "How'd you get this?"

"A stray blast from one of the rifles."

"Is that it?"

"That's all I have to... OW!...say."

"Sorry."

After Tsuike finished, Milia taped a patch onto her skin to catch any excess blood and to help close the wound. She then put on a type of "cast" to apply a little pressure to the wound. "There. Let's go rejoin the others, shall we?" Tsuike said.

Milia glared at Tsuike, but stood up and began to follow him. Catching up to him, she urged him toward a different doorway than the one they took to get back to the hangar.

"This way."

"But isn't the hangar over here?"

"Yes. But there is something you have to see." Milia glared at Tsuike again, beginning to get annoyed with his unwillingness. This time, Tsuike was defeated by her glare, and followed her toward an opening to the outside.

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

They were on top of a rather high hill, covered in trees. The hill overlooked a beautiful forest with dots of blue where ponds were. Spots of black and brown were also visible, explosions from the different skirmishes that had taken place.

"Wow. This place is probably really...calming." Tsuike said.

"Yeah, but turn around." Milia was looking up in the opposite direction. As Tsuike turned around, Milia continued to speak. "Our current "rulers" tore down most of the statues that the public built out of appreciation, but a few of them were forgotten in their conflict." A small eight foot tall statue of Taryan was built out of a green metal, which made it blend in with the forest. His profile had him standing, not looking at the sky as most do, but looking off into the horizon. He had a pistol at one side and three knives strapped to different parts of his body. "He stopped the war and got the people to believe in him, even though they just looked at him as meddling at first. They learned over time that he cared more about them than those rulers did. I never got to see him, but I would like to be just like him: shunned, but eventually praised. I wonder what happened to him?"

"He had a family, raised and protected them until they could be protected no more, and is now protecting as many as he can." Tsuike said, proudly looking at the statue of his father.

"How do you know that? Everyone says he disappeared after the attack on that diplomatic mission years ago."

"I guess I never really introduced myself. I'm Tsuike Novaus, son of Taryan and Dayko Novaus. Nice to meet you. My dad's king of Uragin now." Tsuike smiled at Milia.

"Really?! What's he like?" Milia started acting completely opposite of the standoffish way she was acting before.

"Hey, didn't I give you my full name? Aren't you supposed to do the same?"

"Is that some way of looking down on me or coming on to me?" She asked, looking at him warily.

"No." Tsuike shook his head. "It's only polite, right?"

"I guess you're right. I'm Milia Eyon." She did a little fake courtesy. "Now can you tell me about him?"

"Sure, I'll tell you on the way back to the hangar. Now I don't know much about his life as it was in space, but..."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Tsuike and Milia both walked in the hangar at the same time. "Good, you are all here." Falian turned to see them as they both walked in. "Now I can finally ask, what are you all doing here?"

Akari answered without pausing. "We came to take take Milia to Uragin with us."

"No." Milia answered defiantly.

"And why not?"

"Because, " Tsuike stepped in, "She doesn't want to leave. At least, not like this. And it would be wrong if we left without trying to solve the situation."

"We cannot interfere! It will cause an interplanetary incident." Akari yelled.

"But we also are supposed to protect people. It's quite obvious that something is up here. Remember what Milia said earlier? This war is our fault. I don't think so, do you?"

"Well...no." Akari replied

"Right, and I also think that most of the people don't really know what's really going on here either. But I do aim to get to the bottom of this. And for that we need to talk to the leaders. So how can we go see them?" Tsuike said, looking at everyone.

"Well, it's a simple matter to go see them, but you'd have to get through their respective armies to do so. That includes the Zexis that they have as well." Milia answered.

"How can we do that?" Kori asked.

"Well, personal Zexis are exponentially more powerful than regular ones. It would take about two expertly piloted specialty Zexis to reach the two of them. And it happens we have one expert pilot and specialty Zexis." Falian said matter of factly.

"Okay, how hard would it be to get another one?" Akari replied with a question.

"Get...? You mean...make. And very difficult. A pilot has to be analyzed first. And since we don't have any other expert pilots, it looks like we'll need to test all of you." Normally we would train for this, but we don't really have time, do we?" Follow me." Falian led the way to a chamber.

"Wow, a virtual reality chamber. I haven't seen any of these since I was home." Kori said.

"Yeah, we use these to administer the test for piloting Zexis. Tsuike, we'll start with you. Sit in the chair. The chair will automatically begin the simulation. Piloting the Zexis is a lot like moving around. However, that is all I can tell you before administering the test. The rest you have to find out for yourself."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

After the four of them took the test...

"It'll take a while to compile the results. Why don't you all rest for a while? I'll have Milia prepare something for you all." Falian stayed behind, working at the console. The other five walked out the door and down the hall.

"I don't really have to cook for you, do I?" Milia asked, looking at Akari.

"If you don't want to cook, I'll do it." Saya said cheerfully.

"Hey, Akari." Tsuike said, trying to catch Akari's attention.

"Yes?" She responded eagerly.

"Why did Saya call you The Uragin Princess instead of an Uragin princess?"

"Because my adoptive mother is Lady Lionne."

"Who is that?"

Three notes sounded, coming from the VR chamber. Falian exclaimed, "That's impossible! Tsuike, come back in here!"

Tsuike ran back down the hall and burst into the chamber. "What's wrong?!"

"You got a perfect test score... I guess that means we have the manpower."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well for now it means eat and get some rest. We've got work to do in the morning."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

A little girl was peeking inside of the room, watching a man, a robed figure, and a woman laying in a bed. The woman in bed looked very weak, and it was obvious that she would soon die.

"We could have found another way. You didn't have to do this." The man started.

"Isn't obvious...that I did?" The woman said, pointing toward the robed figure. "We needed...an insertion jump, and that that was the...only way." The woman, exhausted, passed out. After that, the little girl burst in the room.

"You can do anything! You should be able to save her! Why won't you save my mommy?!"

The little girl started assaulting the man, crying hysterically as she did so.

"I...can't. " A pained look crossed his face. "For the good of everyone, this has to happen."

"What about mommy?! She's a part of everyone!" The girl had enough of assaulting the man and turned her attention toward a robed figure next to the bed. "What about you, big sis?!"

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Kori woke up with a start. Panting, she wiped the sweat off her forehead. Reflecting on the dream, she began to shake. "I thought those dreams ended." she said, talking to the air. "I guess he reminds me about home and the stories mom used to tell me."


	13. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

"Dad..." Milia walked into the room where Falian was typing at a computer screen. It was early morning and everyone else was still in bed. She was holding a small cube. Falian turned to get a look at what she was interrupting him for.

"Wow. I suppose this is a message for them and will only display in the presence of Princess Lionne. I'll wake them soon, okay? You should go prepare Hunter."

"Yes, dad" Milia began to walk away from Falian.

"Oh, and by the way..." Falian began.

"Yes?" Milia turned around.

"You might want to hurry. You're running out of time, Ura."

Milia stared at Falian for a second, and then turned and walked away. "Yes, dad." She responded.

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Everyone was sitting at the table, surrounding the cube. Abruptly, Saya walked in with breakfast. "Time to eat!" The cube all of a sudden sprang to life, showing a hologram of a sign with a message on it.

"Ugh, you've got to be kidding me." Tsuike said, placing his face in his hands.

School Time! The message said. Then Kannu appeared and began speaking. "Eh, I'm not so good with the teaching thing. Today's lesson is on the Coinserst machine. However, there is background you need to know before we can go over that. So I am going to have Princess Akari explain that for me, if she will." The hologram disappeared.

"Honestly! Is he really a scientist?" Saya asked.

"Unfortunately, yes." Akari stood as she responded. "Is everyone ready?" Akari said, excitedly.

"Umm, no. Can I be excused?" Kori said, fidgeting.

"But I finally get to teach something." Akari whined.

"Please? Just go on without me." Kori stood and walked out.

"Oh well. The Coinserst was built by a race called the Nuos. They were a very advanced race that dealt in theoretical and relative mathematics. They were a prominent race a long time ago. However, they built the Coinserst. That machine actually led to the destruction of their race. Hunted over their knowledge, they became endangered, and lived alongside the Ura, merging with them. The children that carried Nuos and Urian blood decided that they did not want their children to have to deal with the curse of being Nuon, changing their makeup to be full Urian. Due to this there are no Nuos left."

"Is that really fair? By that decision they wiped out an entire race!" Tsuike exclaimed.

"Yeah, but by doing so they preserved the lives of their children. If there was still Nuon blood out there, they'd be killed!" Akari retorted.

"Why?"

"Because of what they would know. The Nuos had a special ability: they could pass on knowledge genetically as well. They all knew the mechanics of their technology and how to use it. Even better, they could do it by instinct. That fact alone put them in danger. But the strides they made in fourth dimension manipulation made them even more valuable."

"Fourth dimension manipulation? You mean time travel?"

"That's right. But there is no point going over it. Time travel is now forbidden. And with that we will get on to the mission." Falian paused, and the room went dark, and then was lit by a diagram. "Getting the metal for it is not the problem, it's the CPU. I can create the power generator with the tools I have, it's just that the CPU has to be specially manufactured. So your job will be to steal one from the main manufacturing plant."

"Why..." Milia started.

"Before you ask, I'm not sending you because of your wound. You can't handle this mission in your condition, Milia. Now, Tsuike, you will have to sneak in and get to this point. Now the way you are going to get there is..."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Half an hour later...

"Really, was all of that explanation really necessary? All I'm supposed to do is sneak into the complex at sunset, when they are changing shifts, wait around for 2 hours, and steal the CPU, Afterwards I have to cause as much of an explosion on my way out, and then pilot Hunter away, because more than likely I will be pursued. Is that all?" Tsuike said exasperatingly.

"Yeah, but you can be clumsy, so you need to be careful when you sneaking in." Kori said.

"And last but not least, those have to go." Milia said, smiling evilly while advancing toward Tsuike.

"Wait! I need these...!" Tsuike protested.

A couple hours later...

Tsuike was walking toward the hangar. "At least I get to wear my own clothes."

Kori walked up behind Tsuike. "Uh, before you go, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Do you know... never mind."

"What? You can't just bring it up and not say anything."

"Yes I can, or rather, I have to."

"You know you can tell me anything, right? Well, almost anything. There are things that I definitely don't want to know about."

Kori giggled. "Yeah, I know." Then she looked down at the ground."It's just that this is one of those things I can't tell you about. You have to find out on your own. I just... can't."

Tsuike tilted his head to the side. "Really?"

"Really. Don't worry about it. Concentrate on your mission."

"You sure?"

Kori gave Tsuike a death stare. "I'm sure! Go!" She started pushing Tsuike toward the hangar.

A shadow was watching the two from around the corner. "Who are you really?" It asked itself.

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Sunset...

A lone shadow ran through the forest, heading for a compound. As a guard walked into the path the shadow was running, the shadow dropped to the ground, rolled to the right silently, and continued running in a single fluid motion. "They are lighter, " Tsuike sighed mentally, "but I miss my swords. These daggers just don't feel right."

"HEY YOU! STOP RIGHT THERE!"

Another guard happened to see him and was now pointing his rifle at Tsuike. Tsuike dropped as low as he could go, and sped up. Passing the guard, Tsuike pulled the dagger and it's sheathe off of his belt, and struck the guard in the back of the neck with it. "I guess that changes things. I should go after it now, instead of waiting. They'll probably discover their friend is missing soon." Tsuike continued running toward the complex. As he did so, a shadow followed him. "Hmph, messy."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

"As you can see, we have completed the final testing on our latest CPU. All we need is for it to be installed into your machine, your highness. With this, the performance of your machine will increase by unheard of levels, making yours the most powerful machine ever built. Even better, we don't even need Falian Eyon to install this one. Then you will be able to take King Esten without breaking a sweat."

"Good...good. How long will it be before this is able to be implanted into my machine?"

"About ten minutes, sir."

"Good, let's retire to this room so we can discuss the Huntress and her Hunter. We have to come up with a way to stop it."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

"Almost there, just a couple more rooms to go." All of a sudden. Tsuike jumped forward as hard as he could to avoid the raised plates. Passing over them, he stopped for a second to catch his breath. He heard a thud behind him, and all of a sudden, alarms started going off in the building. "It was obvious I was being followed. You really shouldn't be all the way out here, Milia." He said, turning around as he did so.

"I don't get it, I normally would have made that jump..." She said, standing up.

"That's because your body is trying to limit your abilities due to your wound." Tsuike reached for Milia's hand. She flinched, but he took it anyway. "Come on, we really have to hurry!" The two of them ran down the hallway, trying their best to reach their destination. "How'd you get here, anyway?" Tsuike asked. "There are some extra compartments in Hunter. I hid in the leg compartment because you can open it from the inside." Milia responded.

Bursting into the room. They saw technicians running around the room, placing a spherical object into a box. "Alright, Give me the box and no one gets hurt! Milia said, pulling out her bow and aiming it. The technician holding the box threw it, and Milia used the wind to carry it over to herself. Tsuike then took the box and put it in his bag. Tsuike winked and said, "Gotta go!" Matching pace with Milia, they ran to escape the building. "These daggers are yours, right?" Tsuike asked.

"Yeah, did you want to know something?"

"Are any of them disposable?"

"Technically all of them, the bow happens to be my main weapon."

"Good." Tsuike then began to focus as much energy as he could muster into one of the daggers. Throwing it, he sped up and grabbed Milia's hand again. All of a sudden, an explosion occurred behind them. "That should keep them busy for a while."

"Stop in the name of King Wesley!" A platoon of soldiers appeared in front of the two of them, a very dignified looking man coming from behind them. Tsuike stepped forward, and then felt a gale of wind behind him, picking up stray items and pelting the soldiers. After that attack, only a few were left. "Ah, so this is the famous Huntress. Nice to finally meet you." The dignified man turned and looked at Tsuike.

"Too bad you won't get the chance to regret it, King Wesley!" Milia pulled her bow off of her back, aimed for his heart, and let the arrow fly. Tsuike grabbed the arrow as it was flying through the air. The soldiers that were standing started firing their rifles. "What do you think you are doing?!" Tsuike yelled, grabbing Milia and shooting electricity into the crowd, knocking everyone back. The two of them broke through, followed by the scattered shots of the energy rifles. Getting outside, Tsuike and continued to drag Milia toward Hunter. He pressed a button on his belt, and the hatch to the cockpit opened. Picking Milia up, Tsuike jumped on top of Hunter and prepared to jump in. "Wait, it's really only meant for one person..." Milia protested.

"We don't really have time to argue!" Tsuike jumped in, still carrying Milia. Powering it up, he launched it, and pulled the bow off of Hunter's back. As seven Zexis' caught up to them, Tsuike aimed just above the cockpit of the suits. The energy arrows, after hitting their marks, caused each of the suits to eject their pilots. After that, Tsuike increased the speed, losing his pursuers. For a couple of minutes, they both rode in silence. Then Milia broke the tension.

"Why did you stop me?"

"Huh?"

"Why did you stop me? He's the reason why so many people are suffering! If...!"

"If you killed him, you would have regretted it for the rest of your life. My father said a long time ago, that you never forget those you kill. They drain a part of your life. It was for your own good. Besides, it wouldn't have proven anything. Everyone would have just been against you for assassinating him. They wouldn't have recognized you for the good you did, or more like, the good you want to be recognized for."

"..."

"Okay?"

Milia scowled at him for a minute, but then she looked away. "Okay. Nice catch by the way."

"Thanks. Now, could you move your bow? It's digging into my side."

"Yeah sure." Looking down, she saw red coming from where her bow was poking him. "You're bleeding!"

"I know. I got hit by a shot right after I caught that arrow. It's not a problem."

Milia took off her jacket and pressed it up against his wound. "It looks like it's shallow, but you still have to stop the bleeding."

"Besides, it doesn't really hurt..." Tsuike turned red and trailed off.

"What? Is something wrong?"

"You realize you are sitting in my lap, right?"

Milia turned red and started to stare at Tsuike evilly. "Well, it's not my fault! The cockpit is only made for one person!"

"I'm sorry, alright! By the way, how's your wound?" Tsuike asked, trying to change the subject.

"Huh? Oh it's fine. It hurts a little, but it's fine."

Tsuike took his eyes off of the screen and looked straight at Milia. ".."

"What?"

"Every time I reach for you you flinch. Why is that?"

"...It's not something I like talking about..."

"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'm just curious."

"I don't like talking about it doesn't mean I won't talk about it. Like most of the...others, I had adoptive parents. On this planet, there is a law that when you turn ten, you have to get nanomachine implants. By that point in time, your body doesn't have the adverse reaction to the nanomachines where it becomes dependent on it, but not so late that your body sees it as a foreign object and tries to attack it. The nanomachines also give a full readout on the status of the person, blood type, race, and so forth. Are you following me so far?" Tsuike nodded. "Okay, then I'll continue. When I had my nanomachines implanted, it was actually about ten years into the war. Racial sentiments were high, and the analysis showed that I had Urian blood. My parents decided they didn't want to keep me after that and just abandoned me. Because of that I don't like being touched. I guess that subconsciously, having contact with someone makes me remember that my parents thought I was undesirable, just because of my blood."

Tsuike was quiet for a while, unsure of what to say. "I'm sorry."

"I am too, but it's not your fault. Don't worry about it."

"I mean..."

"HEY LOOK! We're almost there!" The familiar hill appeared. "Wow! Look at all of the stars!" Since there were no lights outside, the stars were unusually bright.

"You still are bad at romantic situations." Kori's annoyed voice came in through the radio. When Tsuike heard her voice, he started to sweat when he remembered how he got a black eye.

"Don't worry about her, just land as soon as possible. It may be clear now, but we don't have time for sightseeing." Falian said after Kori.

Tsuike looked at Milia and smiled. "I guess we better do what he says."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

"Good to see you were successful." Falian said as they both disembarked Hunter. "However, I am disappointed in you, Milia. Didn't I tell you not to go?"

"Well...yes dad." Milia responded, dropping her head in defeat.

"Dad? I thought your parents left?" Tsuike responded.

"Oh, they did. But she didn't tell you the whole story. Apparently she doesn't want you know. The hatred towards those with Urian blood goes as far as assaulting those with said blood. And that doesn't exclude women and children either. The real reason she flinches is because the law says that you get nanomachines at six, and I didn't find her until she was eleven. Imagine that you are on a planet that really hates you normally, but is also in the middle of a major civil war. Tensions are high. Can you imagine growing up having to steal to survive? And to make things worse, imagine hiding from everyone. That was her life, but she wasn't one of the lucky ones. She got caught from time to time. As a matter of fact, the day I met her, she had been caught stealing, and they were about to kill her. To make a long story short, she expects to get hurt every time someone reaches for her."

Tsuike was nearly speechless. All he could manage to say was, "Is this true, Milia?"

Milia gave Tsuike a pained look, and walked away. "Milia, wai..."

"Don't worry about her. We've got other things to discuss." Falian motioned for Tsuike to follow him. "There happens to be another law that you need to know about..."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Milia walked to her room as if in a trance, completely out of touch with her surroundings. She stood outside of her room and reflected on her past, and also wondered why she tried to hide the truth from Tsuike.

"Hey, why do you look so sad?"

Milia screamed, and ran smack into her door, nearly knocking herself out. Saya stood over her, offering her hand. "Are you okay?"

Milia looked at her hand, and thought about what Tsuike said. She decided to reach for it. "Yeah, I've been through a lot worse." Milia she responded, trying to clear the haze by shaking it.

"I heard. Tell me about it. I've been through quite a lot myself." Saya responded.

"Really? Okay, then...."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Tsuike took off the helmet to the VR chamber. "Is that good enough?"

Falian sat typing at a computer, with major machinery moving in the background. "Yes, I think I have your fighting style down now. It should take a little while for it to finish. You might as well get some sleep."

"Sure." Tsuike got up and started to walk out of the room.

"By the way, do you know what a Urian slave is? Well, more than likely you don't. A Urian slave is one of the most valuable and worthless commodities. When a Ura is classified as a slave, their nanomachines are permanently reconfigured to not allow the use of any of their energy. As far as worth, they are worth .0037% of a speck of dirt. However, since you can do anything to a Urian slave, they are very valuable for torture."

"That's horrible!"

"Then you need to end this war as soon as possible. Get some rest."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

A hooded figure and a little girl sat on the floor.

"Hey, sis. Mom says you are very beautiful. Why don't you ever show your face?"

"Because if I do, bad things will happen."

"Really? What kinda of bad things?"

"I'm not really sure."

"That sounds like an excuse."

"You really are too smart for your own good. Look, soon I'm not gonna be able to come here anymore. It'll be your turn to protect this place."

"You're leaving?"

"Yeah, we have to go."

"When will I see you again?"

"Ut vos vultus in speculum."

"Huh?"

"But I will break the rules just a little bit." The hooded figure removed her hood...

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

Kori woke up softly. "These dreams just won't stop. And they just keep getting weirder. But... those words...What does ut vos vultus in speculum really mean?" Kori shook her head. "When we get back to Carrie, I'm gonna have to see what that means." Kori got out of bed, and walked toward the window. She looked toward the sky, searching for something from star to star. "Well, I guess tomorrow will be an important day in history. Better get back to bed."

NOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUSNOVAUSNOVUASNOVAUS

"Well, it looks like they broke into the factory this time."

"What do you want to do about it?"

"Why don't we blame it on the 'enemy'? That will clear up the suspicion. Then they will be able to continue harder than ever."

"Hmm...That sounds good, King Wesley. I shall put that into action immediately."

"And what about him? He could ruin everything."

"We kill him the first chance we get."


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

"Have you heard the news? King Wesley is blaming the attack on King Esten and is moving in to crush his army. King Esten responded by saying that the attack was not of any way, shape or form his countries fault and says that the unnecessary use of force will be met in kind. Both sides are saying that they will crush the other side once and for all." Falian said, as they were all eating breakfast.

"Yeah, but is that weird in any way? Both sides are blaming each other for the attack. Isn't that the general rule of war?" Tsuike asked, chewing on a piece of bread.

"Normally yes, but we've found out that this war is a farce. The original war between their fathers was actually over territory, both sides wanting this land in between the two. However, King Esten and King Wesley are friends. They started and continued this war for fun. They never had any ill feelings toward each other." Falian responded.

"Yeah, they treat Tackanian lives as their playthings. That's why they have to be stopped."  
Milia responded.

"So, why were you trying to stop them before if you just found out that this war is fake?" Saya asked.

"Because a life is worth more than the reason a war is fought for. The only reason there should be a war is a war to defend a life. More than likely the battle will commence late this afternoon. It's our job to stop anymore lives from being lost. So lets go over our battle plans." Falian stood, walking toward the door.

"Wait, we aren't gonna have the plans in here with the holographic projector?" Saya asked.

"No, it will be easier to do it in the very cramped hangar." Falian said dryly, leading the way toward the hangar.

When they entered he turned the lights on, revealing two Zexis. One resembled Hunter, but had a couple modifications on it. The other one was completely different. It was blue and rather plain. The only thing that was weird about it was the fact that it had four cylinders on it's exoskeleton, one on each hip, and one over each shoulder. "This is my newest model, based off your style, Tsuike. There are boosters in the feet for increased mobility and four energy swords in those cylinders. The entire fighting style of this machine is based off those swords. It can release waves of energy through those swords for long range attacks. It also has reinforced armor and is faster than most Zexis that you will see." Falian explained.

"So... what's it's name?" Tsuike asked.

"I think you should name it."

"Hmm. I think I'll call it Exx."

"Exx? I guess that's okay. Exx and Hunter will go after each of the kings, breaking through the army to bring them down." Then Falian stared at Milia. "I also upgraded Hunter's systems as well. She should have a better response time and be better able to keep up with your movements. I also increased her power output as well. She should be about 75% more efficient."

"Really? Pacet is stronger?" Milia said.

"Pacet? Who is Pacet?" Tsuike asked.

"Pacet is Hunter and Hunter is Pacet. Those that name their machines are assigned to them. Even though you can pilot Hunter, you can't use her full power. Think of Hunter as a nickname for all to call her, and Pacet as the real name that only the family knows and use." Falian explained.

"So what about Exx? Does it have a nickname?" Saya asked.

"Yes. It is named Saber."

"And we are supposed to wait here for them to do all the work?" Kori asked.

"No, you have a job to do as well." Falian pressed a button, and further back, some more lights came on in the hangar. Three more Zexis could be seen in the back. "You all came out to be good pilots, just not as good as Tsuike and Milia."

"And so you decided to build incredibly powerful weapons for us..." Kori started.

"And gave them to us without any kind of training whatsoever?" Akari finished.

"And you are complaining? When it comes to the training, all it takes is practice. You can only be trained in the basic ones, since every one of those is different. The same is not true for specialty models because every specialty model has it's style and power output that is higher than your general mass produced models. The only difference between Tsuike's, Milia's and yours is that they just don't have the CPU to allow for the type of piloting that Tsuike and Milia will be doing. And as for a run down of their abilities..."

Alarms started to blare throughout the complex. "They started early! We've got to get started now! Tsuike, you take the army of the west and get to Wesley. Milia, you take the army of the east and get Esten. The rest of you prevent as many battles as possible, agreed? Refer to your in computer schematics to answer any questions you may have about your machines. Prevent this tragedy!"

"Right!" They all split up into their various machines and left the hangar.

"Wow, I didn't even have to say whose Zexis is whose." Falian said, before walking to the radio tower.

Tsuike jumped into his cockpit, not realizing that it was drastically different from the Hunter. It seemed like an empty room. Moving toward what he believed to be the center, he was picked up by an immaterial light. It circled around him, forming bands around his joints. "What's going on here?" A computerized voice answered Tsuike's question, "This is the latest in piloting technology. It uses interactive holograms to simulate the weapons on the outside of this machine."

"Yeah, but it's dark. How am I supposed to see the outside of Exx?"

"Exx? Is that the label attached to this machine?"

"Well, yes it is."

"Well, in that case, this machine sends information directly to your nanomachines, so you see the scene outside through the cameras as if they were your own eyes. If you want to move, move like you'd normally walk. If you want to fly, point your feet downward. Be aware that even though this machine has the most powerful generator of it's kind in it, it is not unlimited."

At that point, Tsuike didn't see the dark cockpit, but the hangar. Watching the others take off, he took off as well.

"So this is what it feels like to actually pilot one of these." Kori's voice came through the radio.

"I know, it's completely different from flying inside a ship." Akari's response also came in through the radio.

"Did you just use a contraction?" Tsuike asked.

"I don't think I did, check your translator." Akari nervously responded.

"People, focus! We have work to do. Me and Tsuike need to split up at this point. You guys go ahead to the predicted conflict coordinates." Milia scolded.

"Fine. Let's get going." Tsuike said. Tilting his body forward, he increased his speed as he headed toward Wesley's army. "Hey, Exx, how do I fight?"

"As I am sure that Falian already explained to you, this particular Zexis uses energy swords. The two on the hip are more powerful and when connected in tandem with the ones on your shoulders, they become gunblad..."

"Never mind! You're worse than Carrie!" The first round flew by Exx's head. "Looks like they're finally in range. Let's get started!" Exx lowered his altitude, flying closer to the tree line. Reaching the army, Exx took one of the swords off his hip. Aiming for the rifles, Exx continually slashed the rifles in half. "Wow, this thing is pretty powerful. " He took another one off his back, and attached it to the sword he already held in his hand. "Let's see, if I just attach it like so, I can..." Tsuike said, talking to himself. Holding the Blade in Exx's hand, Tsuike pulled up the specs of the weapon. "Sweet, I can use this as a gunblade." He slashed, sending a wave of energy through the Zexis' motivator units, immobilizing them. "Detecting the King of Gold. " Ex said, putting a marker up on his machine to follow. "Let's get this over with." Tsuike grunted, as he started to cut his way through the army to reach Wesley.

Kori stood on of her Zexis', firing ice at Wesley's troops. "Geez, you'd think that they wouldn't send those unprotected by armor in first?!"

"Please get back in, Lady Kori." An electronic voice came from inside her machine.

"Cobo, Call me Kori. Besides, it would be unsafe for me to face those troops in you."

"You'd be perfectly fine."

"I mean for them! Remember, we're trying to prevent casualties, not cause them." Kori grunted, and summoned a large block of ice and threw it behind her. It shattered, knocking most of Esten's troops.

"Hey, at least you're useful. I can't use my power yet, and Saya's will more than likely kill them." Akari said over the radio.

"I have a question. Why did you start using contractions?" Saya asked.

"Because Milia says it sounds stuck up." Akari responded proudly.

"My guess is that it's more for Tsuike than Milia, you don't want him to think badly of you, do you?" Kori responded. A couple of quiet seconds passed. "Well, I guess that's my answer."

"You do know all of my machinery is on this frequency, right? I can hear you." Falian said over the radio.

"We all can hear you." Milia's response came next.

"...Yeah." Tsuike's response followed.

"Kori..." Kori winced when she heard Akari's voice.

"...yeah...?"

"You do realize that I am going to kill you, right?"

"...sorry."

"Here come the heavy troops!" Saya exclaimed. Kori looked around to find that they were surrounded by Zexis. "Finally, let's see what this thing can do!" Kori said as she jumped into her machine.

"Do you really think that you can take on all of us?!" Tsuike stood surrounded by eight gold Zexis holding a variety of weapons, with the King of Gold standing behind them.

"So you must be the special forces that I heard so much about. Well, I hope I can." Exx pulled the other sword off its hip, and lunged at the group. One Zexis stepped forward with a shield, blocking Exx's attack. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!" Exx jumped back, and the sword in his right hand was shot away by a knight with twin pistols. "WE ARE THE KNIGHT'S OF GOLD!" One more came ran at Exx, hitting it squarely in the side with a mace. "WE WON'T BE DEFEATED BY THE LIKES OF YOU!" Exx went flying, bouncing along the ground before hitting a rock formation. Using his sword to stand, Exx got up shakily. "What's the matter?! Is this all you've got, Ura?!" King Wesley's voice came through the radio, taunting Tsuike. "I can't believe I thought you were better than this. "

"Looks like you need my help for everything." The voice in his head "appeared" again.

"You're the voice from that time with Cerberus. Who are you really?" Tsuike responded mentally.

"I thought you'd have figured that out by now. I am Seretion. The sword you hold at your side. And right now it looks like you need a hand." Seretion lifted out of the holster on Tsuike's hip and dropped to the floor, embedding itself into the bottom of the cockpit. Then the entire cockpit shone with a green light. Outside, the legs and the arms changed to a deep green color, with vines coming out of the palms of Exx's hands, then retracting, revealing holes. "Now fight, like you would a Grek." Exx crouched down and lunged at the closest Zexis. Grabbing it by the ankles, he sent an electric shock through the movement system and tossed it aside. Spotting his energy blade that was still in the ground, he grabbed it, and vines covered it, transforming it into a giant version of Seretion. Tsuike paused for a second. "Come on, show me what you've got!" Tsuike announced to the seven Zexis in front of him. Six of them charged ahead with the one with the energy shield staying behind. Exx slashed wide, sending a wave of energy out and cutting the Zexis just above their cockpits, forcing them to eject. That left only two Zexis: The Gold Shield Knight and the King of Gold. The Shield Knight lunged at Exx, trying to slash at it with his energy barrier. Exx used Seretion's hilt tip to stop the attack, and then engaged the blade, ripping through the the generator in it's arm, dropping the Zexis from the fight. "You were saying?" Tsuike said.

King Wesley growled. "Of course, Uras would ruin my fun. Of course, I never would have thought the son of the last fool would have gotten in my way as well. Oh well, his death was the greatest thing that happened here. Now all I need is your death and the death of that pretty little thing that has been ruining our fun, and everything would be perfect. Then again, I think it would be perfect if she was my Urian slave. If you only knew what I was thinking of doing to her..." Wesley laughed.

Tsuike dropped in the cockpit to the floor. Grabbing Seretion, he yelled out. "EXX! Open the cockpit!"

"Sir, I would not advise..."

"DO IT!" Tsuike yelled, his pupils having changed from purple to orange.

The cockpit opened, with light streaming in where it wasn't before. "You don't deserve to be beaten by a Zexis! I'll take you on myself!" Tsuike jumped out, standing alone against King Wesley's Zexis. "Fine then, I'll show you, Urian scum!" Wesley cried, charging Tsuike with his Zexis. Seretion's blade expanded, lengthening the blade from three to five feet, and expanding it's width by a foot. It's color changed from green to orange. Tsuike started to run at the King of Gold, but disappeared. "I'll say this once!" Tsuike's voice came out of nowhere. All of a sudden, there was a flash of light, and the King of Gold's left and right arm were sliced clean off.

"Your majesty!" The special troops stood and watched as their king's chances of winning dropped. After that, there was another flash of light, and as both legs, as well as the head severed, causing the cockpit to start falling out of midair.

"Any ruler willing to sacrifice his people out of boredom..." Tsuike landed on the still falling cockpit, placed Seretion on his back, and punched through the cockpit. Ripping it in two, he grabbed King Wesley, and disappeared once again, only to be standing on the ground, holding King Wesley by the collar. "...does not deserve to rule." Tsuike said, with the remains of the King of Gold behind him exploding.

Still trying to be defiant, Wesley said, "Who do you think you are, touching the King?"

"Actually, according to the law, you aren't the King." Tsuike dropped the king. He pointed the tip of Seretion's blade at Wesley's neck. "I do hereby place you under arrest for two counts of Treason. One for Trying to take the throne from the rightful ruler, and Two for trying to kill the aforementioned ruler. All others who do not wish to be charged with this crime follow, but do not attack." Tsuike grabbed Wesley by his ankle, and dropped him in the hand of Exx. Jumping in the cockpit, Tsuike made an announcement, "All of Wesley's troops, stop attacking. I have your leader!"

"You're a little late, Tsuike. We were waiting for you to finish up. We're done." Milia's voice came in over the radio.

"Nice to hear from you too, Milia." Tsuike responded.

"Well, all flirting aside, I need the both of you and the Kings back here ASAP. I can make the worldwide announcement from here." Falian ordered.

"Okay." Tsuike then switched the cockpit's communication so he could be heard outside. "Sorry, Wesley, but we're gonna be moving kind of fast, so I'm probably going to be holding on to you a little tightly. It'll also be dark. Oh, and by the way, Taryan Novaus is alive and well." Exx closed his hand over the other one and flew back towards Falian's compound.

"...And according to the law, the only time royalty from a previous regime can reclaim the throne is when all traces of the currently ruling family have abdicated the throne, have been overthrown by the populace, or have died. Therefore, Tsuike Taryan Novaus, is the rightful ruler. On a related note, The Huntress, or Milia, will be exonerated of all crimes generated against her. That will be all for today." Falian cut the transmission afterwards. The special forces from earlier came and took Wesley and Esten away.

"So what now, King Tsuike?" Milia asked mockingly.

Tsuike shuddered, "Please don't call me that. All I want to do at this point is go to sleep. I'm exhausted."

"Well, do you mind if I land on the planet then?" A hologram of Carrie showed up in between Tsuike and Milia.

"Wow, I never thought I would have missed your explanations..." Tsuike began.

"Save it. I heard your remark while you were inside of Exx."

"How'd you hear that?"

"All I had to do was tap into your key."

"Oh. In that case, get as close to Falian's compound as possible. And try to stay cloaked. They might think we're invading if we make too much of a commotion."

"Well, aren't we getting better at politics. Anyway, you should get some sleep."

"All right. See you in the morning." Tsuike walked out of the room.

"Milia, can I see you on the bridge? I also need the other three, if you don't mind."

"I guess..."

"Good." Then a white light enveloped Milia.

"WHY'D YOU do... wow!" Milia's anger was completely dissolved when she saw the stars above her. Looking down, she saw Tackard.

"I know. It's an unbelievable view." Saya said.

Milia jumped again, but there was nothing to run into this time. "SAYA, WILL YOU STOP THAT?!"

Saya giggled. "Sorry, can't help it."

Carrie interrupted them all. "I didn't call you up here for fun! Does anyone know how we measure energy?"

Milia spoke up, "Yeah, we follow the energy buildup and determine it's potential. From there we separate it into levels."

"That is how most races in the LOIB measures energy, the system being developed by Tackanian hands. However, what happens when the source of the energy is organic?"

"Well, generally, it is determined to be infinite."

"Correct. If the source is organic, it will be able to adapt to it's own limits, being able to surpass them. With an infinite amount of time, the potential of the organic being will be infinite. However, taking twenty years to come up with enough energy to fight your enemy is inefficient, no matter what the potential is. And when your main enemy is biomechanical, it throws off your priorities when all enemies have infinite potential."

"Oh."

"Then, a scientist revamped our system." Akari jumped in.

"She came up with a system for determining destructive power by the speed that the subject generated power. By using that, and factoring an amount of time appropriate to the battle, a measurement of destructive power could be identified." Kori cut Akari off.

"Correct." The Carrie hologram looked confused, surprised that Kori knew that information. "Tsuike's energy usage in the battle inside of Hectarian against the army of Nids was rated as Class C, which is a little more powerful than expected, but still acceptable. Afterwards, Tsuike was pretty tired from using that much energy. However, this is the energy analysis of the battle earlier today." As Carrie said that, an overhead map of the part of the forest Tsuike fought in appeared. "As you can see here, we have a Class C and a Class A reaction in the same place. The class C is of Exx. Tsuike generated enough energy to be rated as a Class A."

"What's the big deal? Class A is able to destroy an army." Milia said.

Akari shook her head. "Not in the Urian measurement system. Class D is one on one battling, or small groups. Class C is able to destroy a city, or an army. Class B is able to destroy a continent. Obviously, Class A is able to destroy a planet."

"Well, as powerful as that is, any organic being with enough time would be able to create that much energy."

Kori was the one to answer this statement, "Not with a generating time of two minutes."

"Well, anyway, you can get some sleep on the ship. I'll land in the meantime. By the way, I have something for you, Milia."

A little girl and her mother are walking through the ruins of an old city. The woman is walking around, pointing to various buildings and explaining what they are for. However, the little girl is not listening, totally entranced by a white gem that she carries.

"You haven't been listening to me at all, Kori. What's wrong?"

"Nothing. I just want to know about that gem you carry with you. What is it?"

"It's something that's been in my family for generations. We have one, even though there are two in existence."

"Two? Who has the other one?"

"Ironically, your sister has the other one. Here, why don't you try holding it." She handed the young Kori the gem.

"Wow, it's warm." Kori looked in the gem, and saw swirling lights inside.

"Pretty, isn't it? One day it will be yours."

"Really? I can't wait.

"It's time to get back to the city. They made a new virtual reality game, if you want to try it. It hasn't been released yet, but I know the creator. It's from Tackard. We'll go if you're good."

"Okay."

Kori woke up. Looking at her nightstand, she saw her bracelet. She turned it over and pulled the gem out of it's socket. She sat for a moment, staring at the lights within the crystal. "Mom..."


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen

"It seems Tackard is no longer under their control."

"Good. How are the preparations going?"

"They are going according to plan. Who do you plan on sending?"

"No one, I'm going myself. I haven't seen a certain someone in a while."

"Who is going to run this place while you're gone?"

"Relax, I'll only be gone a few days. It won't be like the last head."

"I didn't know it was possible to be this sore." Tsuike said to himself, rubbing his arm. Walking down a hallway in Falian's compound, he was surprised not to smell Saya's cooking."If you're looking for the other three, they aren't here." Milia's voice came from a doorway ahead of Tsuike, "Come on, give me a hand in here." Tsuike followed her voice into the kitchen. He saw Milia grabbing various things and setting them on the counter. "Could you hand me that, Tsuike?"

"Sure. By the way, nice choker."

"Thanks. Carrie called it a key. She gave it to me last night."

"It looks good on you." Tsuike picked up the pan. When he tried to hand it to Milia, his right arm spasmed and cramped, causing him to drop the pan.

"Geez, you really overdid it yesterday." Milia stopped what she was doing and walked over to the table. "Come and sit down," she said, motioning toward the chair. When Tsuike sat down, she went to work on his muscles. "I have to ignore breakfast so that I can make sure you can move." She waved her hand in the air and a keyboard appeared. "I just raised the temperature in here, it should help relax your muscles. You really can't do too much like that, you have people who worry about you. Can you imagine how the people who care about you would feel if something happened to you? Especially those three. I've been around you guys for two weeks and I can tell."

"And what about you? You tried to take on two kingdoms! Are you saying that you never put yourself in harm way?"

"I did, but no one on this planet cares about me except for Falian and myself..."

"Yeah, I'm not buying it. As you said, we've been here for two weeks. If we didn't care, we wouldn't have helped you."

"Yeah, but..."

Tsuike stood up and hugged Milia. "Are you saying that you don't feel anything from this?"

Milia was glad that Tsuike couldn't see her face, her expression proved his point. "Well..." Suddenly, Milia tensed. "Right now, I feel...kinda scared." The temperature in the room dropped a couple degrees.

Noticing the drop in temperature, Tsuike shuddered. "Kori's behind us, isn't she?"

"We try to bring you food, and this is what we find you doing?! I'm just kidding, I know you're just trying to prove a point." Kori placed some food on the table. "Besides, there's nothing to be jealous of if we are all the same person, right?" Kori looked up and smiled.

Milia picked up a roll. "Yeah, that's a load of crap."

"And what makes you say that?"

Milia dropped the roll on a plate, shattering the plate. "This roll is frozen solid."

Falian walked in after their conversation and looked at the table. "Since it looks like breakfast is...out of the question, please prepare for the arrival of a very special guest. The head of the LOIB is coming."

Queen Dayko was in a room talking to two people. "Your behavior was unacceptable, that's why I am assigning you to that ship. Just because you are the heads of your departments doesn't mean that you can just do whatever you want."

The first person stood up, "He was the one that messed up, not me! Why do I have to go along with him?"

Dayko turned to her and said, "Because you will also keep an eye on them. Either he will learn to say the right thing or he'll say the wrong thing. Either way the results will not be pleasant. Besides, I also have a message that I need you two to deliver."

"So basically, we are messengers and babysitters. I can't say that I like this..."

Dayko pulled open a latch on a bag that she was carrying. "Do you have a problem with that?"

"Nope! No problem at all!" The person who was talking pushed the other one out the room.

Queen Dayko chuckled, and then said to her bag, "Not today, I guess." She then she looked up. "Come in, Virgalant Fiernace."

Virgalant walked in, as stiff as a board. "You wanted to see me?"

"Yes, I need your report on your search."

"Well, we've been searching the planet discreetly, but it still seems that we cannot find her. Even worse, even though we were trying to search without getting the attention of the Greks, we've been bombarded with them as high as level three Cerberus. We're handling it, so we don't need help, but it still may take time to find your daughter."

"NO! No way am I gonna wear this! Who would wear this anyway?" Tsuike was running around the room, being chased by two attendants, with Falian in the corner laughing.

"You know, your father did the same thing." A middle aged woman completely covered in a black and purple robe walked into the room. She had brown eyes, and silver hair. "He couldn't stand the attention, and all the things he had to do to be recognized as king."

Tsuike stopped running, and Falian quit laughing. The entire room fell silent. "Grandma?"

"Yes, Brandon? Actually, it's Tsuike, isn't it?"

"Yeah. You look completely different."

"Tsuike, just because we aren't on the earth anymore doesn't mean that rule doesn't apply. What do you do when you see me?" Tsuike walked over and hugged his grandmother. "It's nice to see you again, Falian Eyon."

"I haven't seen you since Taryan was appointed. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be overseeing the LOIB?" Falian said in response.

"Well you know Tackard's declaration was huge in the LOIB. Since the old regime fell, we have to make sure the new regime is better for it's citizens. And to do that, I have to make sure the new ruler is chosen properly. And going by your actions, I'd say that you, Mr. Eyon, would be the best choice."

"I'm flattered, Lady Novaus, but what about the law?"

"That law only applies as long as the King wants to rule. The rest of Tsuike's family is busy and Tsuike has his own matters to attend to." She stopped and looked over at Tsuike. "Besides, he doesn't want to do it anyway."

"Right." Tsuike nodded in agreement.

"Besides, it would probably be easier for the people to swallow a king that was not Urian. Even better, someone who has had their interests at heart all along. I do believe that that would be you."

"...Akari, please hurry. It's a little early, but it's here." The original body of Carrie was laying against the blue tree that was originally Hectarian.

Later that afternoon, two hours into Lady Novaus' announcement on the statement of affairs...

"Hmm, I have not heard anything from Carrie yet. She was acting a little weird today." Akari whispered to Kori.

"Well, I guess being alone for a while made her think a little. Besides..." Kori responded.

"Shh! Lady Novaus is announcing the new King!" Milia quickly ended their conversation.

"What? Announcements like this are always long winded. You can't blame them" Saya said.

"...And so, along with Tackard's re admittance into the League of Intelligent Beings, I'd also like to announce the new king of the now unified Tackard, King Falian!" As Lady Novaus said that, cheering by the crowds surrounding the area filled the air. As Falian stepped forward, he opened his mouth to speak, and the cheers died down. "And as my first order of business, I would like to reorganize the employment system."

"Not real royalty, only a puppet!" A random person in the crowd tried to throw a bomb up onto the loft. Kori jumped in front of Falian, using her staff to knock the bomb away, while Milia used her bow to pin the attacker to the ground by his clothing.

"I guess this means that you will need some bodyguards." As Lady Novaus said that, she dismissed the crowds and walked back inside. As she did, Milia stopped her. "Can I ask you something in private?"

"Do all announcements have to be so long winded? I mean, can't they just condense it?" Kori complained.

"Not really. You have to explain the entire situation when you make announcements this big. Otherwise, it looks like you are just meddling in other people's affairs." Tsuike said.

"Yeah... GUYS! We've have to go back to Carrie! Something is wrong!" Akari exclaimed.

Back in the main room...

"It's not a full blown attack, but... it's still an attack, Akari." Carrie said.

"Hmm, that's weird, you shouldn't be having an attack for a while." Akari mumbled.

"What's wrong?" Tsuike asked.

"It's the Evening Star Virus. It's a virus that affects all Iragi."Akari responded.

"Why is it called that?" Saya asked.

"See the tree? If you look closely, you'll see white spots surrounded by black patches. It looks like the stars at night. That is why we call it the Evening Star Virus."

"How serious is it?" Tsuike asked.

"All Iragi eventually die from it. The only way to prevent it is for someone to go inside of their psuedospace where their third body lies and attack it. Doing so causes the virus to go into a hibernation."

"How can you say that so casually?! Aren't they your friends?!" Tsuike exclaimed.

"It's not as if we enjoy it, it's a part of our lives. We wish there was something more we could do." Akari was beginning to get nervous. She felt as if she was being interrogated.

"So when they die, you just replace them?" Saya asked.

"No. Even with the Evening Star Virus, the Iragi still outlive us Urians. We don't just pair up with Iragi for our own benefit, we were allowed to pair up with them so that we can battle the virus within them. However, the third body is a very vulnerable place for an Iragi, so many Iragi only pair up with one Urian. After the Urian dies, the Iragi is usually so attached to the Urian that they generally don't want to partner up with another Urian, so they choose to die a little afterward. That's not always the case, but the bond between an Iragi and their Urian is like best friends. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a job to do." A rift opened up on the tree behind Carrie. "Sorry guys, I'll be a little bit."

The next day...

"So is everything ready to go?" Akari asked, sitting in her designated chair.

"All except for the people." Carrie responded.

"Are you sure that Queen Dayko sent a message telling us to wait in orbit?"

"Trust me, I wouldn't get that mixed up."

"So, are you coming with us?" Saya, Tsuike, and Milia were standing in front of Falian.

"Well, dad is going to need some help getting things started around here, plus he's going to need a bodyguard. I think it would be better if I stayed. So I'll probably stay." Milia was trying to avoid looking at Tsuike.

"Alright then. By the way, Akari said you can keep the choker. You should be able to use it to be able to communicate with us if you need to." Tsuike then turned his attention to Falian. "Were you able to get everything ready?"

"Yes, everything is ready. Thanks for all of the help. We will try to make this place more Urian friendly." After Falian said that, a white light engulfed Tsuike, Kori, and Saya.

"Are we about ready for the ceremony and takeoff?" Akari asked.

"Yeah, but could you do me a favor? According to the schematics, this ship has an opening for small ships. Can you open it and teleport me there?" Tsuike asked.

"Sure." Akari responded warily.

Falian, Milia, and a couple of the guard stood and watched as the ship lifted off, and stopped, hovering in the air waiting for the send off.

"I wonder what they're doing? Why are they just waiting there?" Milia asked.

"Milia, why didn't you go with them?" Falian interrupted Milia's thoughts.

"Because you need a bodyguard."

"You would be useless as a bodyguard. Do you not remember our first deal? If you stay, you will become a Urian slave. Without your powers, you will have a hard time adjusting to the new life. Soon after that, we will be required to release all Urian slaves, make your becoming a Urian slave pointless. To make a long story short, you can come visit, but you have to go. Besides, aren't you interested in that Tsuike kid?"

"But I don't have my clothes,,,"

Falian picked up a bag and handed it to Milia. "Here. Now they aren't going to teleport you up because you didn't have the sense to leave with them." Falian flicked Milia in the head. "However, There is another way you can get up to the ship." Falian gave Milia a hug.

"It's really windy this high up." Tsuike said, as he sat out of the hangar. He jumped to his feet, and as he did so, Milia came flying up from the ground. Tsuike caught her and then tried brace to stop her speed, but Carrie projected a field that slowed her down as soon as she entered it, which messed up Tsuike's balance. Milia used that to knock Tsuike down and pin him to the ground, holding a knife to his neck.

"WHY DID YOU HAVE ME SHOT INTO THE AIR?!" Milia said, panting.

Tsuike smiled. "It was Falian's idea. He was pretty sure you wouldn't have left on your own and wanted to punish you for not going in the first place."

Milia stood up, "Dad...anyway, at least he's extremely grateful to you." Milia offered Tsuike a hand. "He's throwing you this big celebration for you guys."

"All we wanted was for all of the Urian slaves to be released. This celebration isn't appreciation for us, it's for you." Tsuike put his arm around Milia, motioning toward the sky. "I think that Falian's gonna miss having you around, he arranged all this for you." Explosions painted the sky. Down on the ground, Zexis were arranged in a salute to the ship, with Exx and Hunter standing in the front. Seeing all of this, Milia smiled. "Of course dad would overdo it a little."

"C'mon you two. It's time to go." Carrie said, teleporting the two of them to the bridge.

Falian watched the ship rise higher and higher into the sky, eventually disappearing as it left the atmosphere. "Thank you, Milia. Thank you for everything."

An attendant walked up behind Falian. "King Falian, are you sure about this?"

"Yes, I am." Falian stared at the sky for a little bit longer, then turned to face her. "Here's what has to be done..."

"Now that we are all here on the bridge, I can finally relay a message from Queen Dayko. She said that we are supposed to wait here to accept a ship that has further orders." Akari said.

"This is what I left my home for?" Milia said sarcastically.

"Just be quiet and enjoy the view." Akari bit back. As she said that, a light started to flash on her console. "Oh, they are here. Okay Carrie, go head and teleport us to the hangar."

When the white light disappeared, Tsuike and the others found themselves looking at six other people. "You always did arrive late when it counted, Brandon. Or should I say, Tsuike."


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

"Issac?! Is that you? You look really...different. Does that mean that the rest of you are...?" Tsuike was shocked to see his old friend out in space.

"Of course. Xavier, Kitty, Nicole and I are your guardians. We're more like your assistants, taking care of things that you need to have taken care of. We also are trained to fight alongside of you. Well, normally we would, but due to the situation with the princess..., or princesses, we will more than likely end up just taking care of our duties." Issac responded.

"So, are you going to introduce us, or do you plan to keep talking around us?" Milia said, staring at Tsuike.

"Oh, sorry. Kori knows everyone already, so I assumed..." Tsuike stopped short when he looked over at Kori, who was sweating and shaking horribly. "Kori...KORI! Snap out of it! What's wrong?! KORI?!" Kori passed out.

Kori stood in the dark, looking around. "This...doesn't feel like a dream. I don't remember anything like this happening." Suddenly, Kori stopped talking. Ahead of her was a girl with incredibly long, black hair that was arranged so that it covered everything but her face. Where her hair stopped was shrouded in darkness. "Who are you?" Kori asked.

"Weak. I can't believe you let something like this affect you. And that wasn't even the Unos Trigger."

"What's the Unos Trigger?"

"You aren't ready to know yet."

__

Kori woke up in her room, with Tsuike and Nicole sitting by her bed. "It seemed like you had a breakdown and passed out. What's going on?" Tsuike asked.

"I'm sorry, I thought I saw... nothing, never mind." Kori then turned her attention to Nicole. "Nicole, by any chance, are you one of the Nuos?"

"I thought that the Nuos were extinct..."

"Well, that's actually classified. As a matter of fact, isn't there someplace else you could be?" Nicole motioned toward the door.

"Are you seriously kicking me out?"

"Yeah. Girl talk, you understand."

Tsuike was walking down the corridor, talking to himself. "They had me do all the work without even explaining to me what was going on."

"Hey you look like you need to blow off some steam. Wanna spar?" Issac's question interrupted Tsuike's moping.

"Sure, why not? I'd like to try fighting someone human."

"Human?"

"Humanoid."

"We really need to teach you the biology of the universe."

"Okay, now use less energy than usual. That way your sword won't cut through me. That's how we spar." Issac pulled out a hilt, and it expanded into a yellow energy blade about three feet in length. Tsuike pulled the sunglasses off of his head and did the same. Sizing each other up, they stood, not making a move. Then, Tsuike lunged at Isaac, slashing low. Issac retaliated by jumping, and swung downward, which Tsuike rolled out of the way to dodge. Tsuike braced and lunged one more time, which Issac stopped with his sword. They both pushed for a little bit, before they both jumped back. "So, enough of a warm up, you ready for the real thing?" Issac asked.

"Sure, why not? It looks like we have an audience anyway." Akari, Kitty, Kori, Milia, Nicole, and Xavier had walked in. "It's time to get serious." Tsuike pulled Seretion out, and engaged it's blade, holding them both behind him. Issac's blade became darker until it became green, growing to the size that Seretion had during the fight with King Wesley. Tsuike swung Seretion, sending an energy wave toward Issac, which Tsuike then dashed behind, looking for an opening. Issac simply blocked the wave, and knocked Seretion out of his Tsuike's hand with his sword. "Nice tr...!" Was all that Issac managed to get out before Tsuike whipped out his foot to trip him. Jumping over Issac, he grabbed Seretion, and turned around. "You're still holding back." Tsuike said. He then stabbed his sword into the ground and sent a powerful wave of electricity through it, waiting for Issac's response. As Issac jumped over the electric wave, Tsuike sent a flurry of energy slashes at Issac. Issac blocked it, and as he did so, his blade began to turn black. Issac swung, and Tsuike attempted to dodge it, but the blade barely nicked his shoulder, causing the all the fabric covering Tsuike's left arm to disintegrate.

"That's enough you two!" Syerie jumped between the two, creating a wall of water in front of Issac and a wall of rock in front of Tsuike. "A guardian isn't supposed to try to kill the one they are to protect."

"Oh, that's just how me and Issac are. If he didn't try his hardest, it's not true battle practice." Tsuike said, tapping the hilt of Seretion against his shoulder. "It's kinda insulting to your sparring partner. Wait a minute, when did you get here?"

Syerie dropped the barriers. "The guardians were actually our escorts. We're here to deliver a message. Queen Dayko has three things for you. One..."

"You do realize I was planning on delivering the message myself, right?" A hologram of Queen Dayko appeared in the training area. "First of all, Kannu and Syerie will be staying with you guys, so they can take care of your schooling and monitor you guys. After all, I can't have you guys flying around without adult supervision. Secondly, when you disembark for a planet, try to only go in groups of four. If you have a large entourage of people following you, it may give the wrong message to the locals. Finally, the last attack by the Evening Star Virus on Hectarian/Carrie was due to the fact that the tree and the third body hasn't accepted the recent changes yet. So, you guys are going to have to take over a lot of the tasks that Carrie normally regulated. Saya is already the cook, but you are going to have to do some of the other tasks until she is ready. Right now, the urgent tasks are laundry, gardening, and piloting the ship. I'll leave it to you to decide who does who. Be careful as you go." The hologram disappeared.

"Huh, I actually saw that coming. So, who wants to do what?" Syerie asked.

"I wanna pilot!" Akari demanded.

"Well, I'd normally agree, but due to the analysis that Carrie did, I think it would be best if Milia piloted the ship. She has the best piloting skills out of all of us. All she would need would be a crash course from you." Syerie interjected.

"I do not think that would be the best idea..." Akari responded tentatively.

"I think it would be a great idea. It would give you two a chance to get to know each other." Tsuike paused for a second. "Well, I guess it would be more like... give you two the chance to get along better."

"...Alright. I'll help. And since I can't pilot, I'll do the laundry. It doesn't seem like it is that hard." Akari pouted.

"Then that works out. Gardening the amount that we need is a two person job, so Tsuike and Kori can work on that together." Carrie said as quickly as possible, without appearing in her holographic form.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" Akari yelled.

"Well, there's that. It's kinda been a long day, so I'm headed to bed. Good night, everyone." Tsuike began to walk away, then stopped. "Carrie, how do I get to my room?"

The Next Day...

Syerie paced the floor in front of Tsuike and the princesses. "Alright class. Since we have the guardians here with us today, I can do a special class on energy. First of all, does anyone know the physical elements?"

"Yes, that would be Water, Earth, Nature and Wind." Akari nonchalantly answered.

"That is correct. Now the reason for this is the fact that these four elements cause physical damage rather than change the molecular structure of certain items to be used, as is the case with Fire, Ice, Lightning, Light and Dark. Now, the importance of physical vs special is shown when it comes to a certain element. What is Tsuike's guardian Issac's element?"

"Is he of the Dark element?" Akari asked.

"That is a very good guess, but incorrect. I can understand how you would think that, because it was the only element he used during the fight, but no."

"I would guess that he doesn't have an Element." Kori said.

"Correct. Issac is an Unclassified."

"Okay...so what does that mean?" Saya asked.

"It's easier to explain like this, Tsuike is of the lightning element. He can use lightning at it's full potential, or 100%. Lightning is most related to Wind and Fire, which he can use at about 85%. If he put all of his energy into a lightning attack, it would be at 100%. However, if he put all of his energy into a Wind or Fire attack, it would be at about 85%. Light and Dark would be at about 75%, Nature and Ice would be at 50%, and Earth, since he can't use it, would be at 0%. However, Issac, as an Unclassified, would work slightly different. If Issac and Tsuike could use that same amount of energy and we're exactly the same strength wise, no matter what Issac would do, if he tried to use any elemental energy at all, it would be at 75%."

Milia looked puzzled. "So what about weaknesses? Does that mean he doesn't have any?"

"No. Every element has a weakness. In the case of the unclassified, they have a weakness to the entire group of physical elements. That means that Wind, Water, Nature, or Earth would deal more than the usual amount of damage to Issac."

"But I thought that you couldn't use the element that you were weak against." Tsuike said.

"Generally, that rule does apply. However, Unclassified prove to be the exception to the rule. Kori, you seem to be deep in thought about something. What are you thinking about?"

"I was just thinking about the fact that you specified that when an Unclassified used elemental power, the strength of it would be at 75%. Was there some other type of energy that they can use at 100%?" Kori asked.

"Very, very, good Kori! Yes, Unclassified regular energy usage is at 100%, whereas all the elemental people can only use regular energy at 65%. Any questions? Okay then, class is dismissed."

"I can't believe I almost lost." Tsuike's grunts filled the area. "Okay, Carrie! Give it another go!" Tsuike engaged his blade in anticipation. Eight baels appeared, running at Tsuike. Allowing the first two to pass, Tsuike sent an energy wave through two of them. "Alright, two down." Pivoting, he slashed wide horizontally, cutting through another two. Stabbing his sword into the ground, he sent an electrical shock wave toward one, overloading it, which took out another. Sliding, Tsuike turned to face the baels he let pass earlier. Combining Seretion with his own key, he fired an energy bullet into the head of one. Letting the other get close to him, he ran it through with his sword. "Whew, that's a good enough warm up. Hey Carrie, can you pull up a simulation of the Ob Bael?"

"I'm not so sure you want to do that."

"Me and Saya beat him before, I should be able to beat him now."

"I'm not exactly sure I can agree with that logic, but okay."

The ob Bael appeared. Tsuike fired at it, but it dodged the shots, firing spikes of it's own. Tsuike blocked the initial impact of the spikes, but the force that they struck his sword caused him to lose his balance. It pinned Tsuike to the ground. As it began to strike, an arrow flew between Tsuike and the Bael. It shattered between them, sending a gale of wind that separated Tsuike and the Bael. It quickly regained it's balance, running up the walls to face Milia, it's attacker. As it leapt to strike, Tsuike sent an energy wave that knocked it up into the air, flailing as it fell. Tsuike dashed to get under it, separated his swords, and waited. When the Bael came in range, Tsuike used his swords in a scissors motion, cutting it in half.

"Need some help?" Milia yelled down, sitting down on the balcony looking down on Tsuike.

"No, but thanks. I'm trying to get stronger. Issac was holding back a lot. It's embarrassing to lose that way." Tsuike dusted himself off, then jumped as high as he could, landing on the balcony next to Milia. "How'd you get here? I didn't see you come in through the front door." He asked, plopping down on the floor next to her.

"There are a ton of ways here. Since I'm the pilot, I also get to see the schematics for the ship. There's actually a ton of different ways here, since this place exists in psuedospace. Why didn't you use that special orange blade against him?"

"I don't actually know how I did that in the first place. Wesley said something that set me off, and after that, my body just took over."

"Oh..."

An uncomfortable silence passed between them. "So what was that earlier?"

"What was what?"

"That thing you used to get that Bael off of me."

"Oh, that's something I can do with my key." Milia moved closer to Tsuike. "See, this thing allows me to shape my royal energy into something almost plastic. I can then use it to house my wind energy. Now hold out your hand." When Tsuike did, she dropped a milky white capsule into Tsuike's hand. "See, that is full of my wind energy." Milia closed her eyes, and her chocker glowed for a second. When it stopped glowing, paper shreds filled the floor below them. "Alright, give it a toss."

"Hmm, okay." Tsuike threw the capsule down to the floor. When it impacted, it made a loud popping sound, as all the shreds on the floor were thrown up into the air. "Wow, that's pretty cool."

"Yeah, but it takes a lot of energy, so I can't use it all of the time."

"If I form my own electrical energy, can you encase it?"

"I guess, here give me your hands." Milia turned toward Tsuike, and intertwined her fingers with his.

"Hey, you're turning red!"

His attention to her face made her even redder. "I forgot to say close your eyes! Good... now form a ball of energy between us and try to keep it stable." Milia then focused on trying to encase his energy. After she finished, a milky blue ball was floating in the air between them. "Alright done, now let's see how much power this thing has."

"Wait, you may not want to do..."

BOOM! The entire room filled with smoke, as all the paper that had just settled was instantly burned to a crisp. Electric arcs still pierced the air.

"Sorry, I think I made it a little too powerful." Tsuike grinned sheepishly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. After you get past the initial shock, it just tingles. I'll give you a demonstration of how it's supposed to look." Milia stood up, and as she did so, straw dummies materialized on the floor below them. Milia took her bow off of her back, and drew an arrow without a head. "Alright, now watch this." Another milky white capsule appeared on the tip of the arrow. "Arrow Blades!", she yelled, releasing the arrow, Tsuike watched as it struck one of the dummies. Suddenly, all of the others were cut to shreds.

"Awesome, but what did you yell?"

"Arrow Blades. That's what I named it."

"...You named it?!"

"What?! Don't look at me like that! It's going to be one of my signature moves, so I named it! Besides, don't you have a sword named Seretion?"

"...yeah."

"So it's not so uncommon. Anyway, your hour is up. It's my turn to use the room."

"Oh, sorry. Be careful."

Milia watched Tsuike as he jumped off the balcony and walked out of the room. "Kori was right, he really does have a hard time with semi-romantic situations." She said to herself.

"Semi-romantic? I'm not so sure that was romantic." Carrie appeared next to Milia.

"I thought it was."

"Remember her childhood..." Saya appeared through the same door Milia came from earlier.

"AAH!" Saya's appearance scared Milia off the balcony.

"Sorry, couldn't help it. Are you alright?" Saya apologized.

"Yeah..." Milia replied weakly.

"Eavesdropping isn't a good habit to have." Carrie chided.

"I know, but girls do it all of the time, right? Anyway, I was saying that most of her physical contact when she was younger was abusive. So just holding hands with a guy would be a big step for you, wouldn't it?" Saya peered over the side of the balcony to see Milia getting into a battle position.

"I tell you way to much. Carrie, start the same project Tsuike was running!"

"I can't believe they attacked here. There isn't anything for them here." Dayko was sprinting through an area in ruins. "I mean, what could they possibly be interested in at Eclipse's Testament?"A woman with dark blue hair and green eyes ran beside her.

"Are you sure you want to take this one down yourself?"

"I may be a little rusty, but I don't think I'll need your help in fighting them. What do you have for me today?"

"Check the bag. Today I have projectile weapons for you, since you may not be quite ready for melee fighting. As usual, they run off your power."

"So you won't give me a sword because you think I am rusty...?" Dayko pulled out the guns and tapped the bag.

"You know that won't work on me. Besides, you know why I haven't made you a sword in a while. If you don't need my help, I'll wait for you to finish." The woman disappeared.

"Thanks Carrina." Arriving at her destination, Dayko slid to a stop. Ahead stood three Cerberus-like Greks.

"SO THEY ONLY SENT ONE TO TAKE US ON? WHAT ARE YOUR LEADERS THINKING?!"

"I requested to come alone. What, you don't recognize me? I know it's been about eighteen years since you last saw me but it is still me."

"WHAT?! YOU MOCK US?! YOU DO REALIZE THAT WE ARE POWER TYPES, NOT RECON, RIGHT?"

"I'm just being honest."

The three Cerberus' began firing a barrage of energy bullets. Dayko began to glow white for a second, then abruptly stopped. "Oh well." She disappeared. Reappearing behind the first one, she whistled. "Sorry, but I can't shoot some...thing in the back." She fired, and watched the bullet move. "Wait a minute, these aren't guns, they're mini cannons!"

"YOU THINK SOMETHING LIKE THAT WILL DEAL ANY DAMAGE?!" The Cerberus stood proud against the first shot. When it connected, the Cerberus was instantly compressed into nothingness. "I guess they are gravity cannons. They won't fall for that again." The other two charged Dayko slashing at her. She jumped onto the head of one, placing her palm on the middle head. Instantly the whole body disintegrated.

"And last, but not least..." Dayko began to glow red. Soon, the energy forming around her became armor, and a red broadsword formed in her hand. "I wish I could use the other one."

"INSOLENT URIAN!" The Cerberus reared back and shot a black mass of fast moving energy at her. She cut the energy in half, and it exploded behind her. She then ran at it, and slashed horizontally. When it was halfway through the body, she stopped, and then flipped it up into the air, where it exploded.

"Whew, I need to get back into shape. Okay, beam me back to Uragin."

_The sound of knocking on the door filled the air. "Kori, I know it's hard, but you have to eat." Kori looked around, but noticed she couldn't see anything. It was too dark. "It's been four days, you should eat something. I'll leave you food, if you want to eat later." Footsteps lead away from the room. A bright white light briefly lit up the room, as the robed figure from before appeared. "Kori..."_

"Sis..."

"You can call me Nicole for today." Kori ran to where Nicole was standing, and cried in her arms.

__

"We will soon be landing on Planet Tonos. Please get ready and meet on the bridge. I have to give the last of the instructions before we go." Carrie's announcement woke Kori from her dream. Kori placed her face in her palm. "Tears?" She used her bracelet to display the planet outside. "It's been a while since I've been home."


	17. Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Sixteen

"Whoa, look at her! She's so fast!" A girl was flying through the water, surrounded by a bunch of teenagers in school swimsuits. Her jet black hair obscured by a blue swimming cap. As she reached the other side of the pool, she raised upright, and opened her bright blue eyes, smiling in triumph.

"Kilsa Tonalia, 100 meter swim...34.27 seconds."

"Whoa, did you hear that? That's a new record!" The whispers permeated through the crowd. "Yeah, this is the only place she can win. Everywhere else she's second best."

"Don't they know I can hear them?" Kilsa thought as she got out of the pool. The crowd rushed around her, giving her all kinds of congratulatory statements. Pushing through the crowd, she came to the only person whose opinion really mattered to her.

"You did great, sis." A girl with short black hair and green eyes gave Kilsa a hug.

"Thanks, Jysa. Now go easy on me, we still have that dinner later." Kilsa hugged her twin back.

"Alright, that's enough. It's time for the combat exam. Change and meet on the field."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

In a very unfurnished room, eleven important looking men sat around the table.

"General Tonalia, we urge you to reconsider. If we take this chance, we may be able to better the Nutos people. You've seen what dabbling in the technology did for our armor..."

"I'm sorry. You put me in this position so that I could protect the technology of the Ancients. That is our job on this planet. Trying to take it just leads to our being attacked by the security system." He stood up, his silver hair shining in the light. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare to meet some royalty." The man walked out the door.

"We seriously need to do something about his so called sense of justice. We could do so much better without him in charge."

"Yes, but due to his record and the love of the people, as well as his obvious fighting ability, we can't stop him. We have to find a way to cut him out of office..."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

"Do we really have to wear...these?" Everyone was standing, facing a hologram of Dayko. Tsuike, Kori, Nicole and Saya were all dressed in long robes. "Seriously, can't I dress like a normal human?"

"Tsuike, you are representing the royal family, you have to dress properly. And besides, you aren't human." Dayko responded.

"What about Akari? Why can't she..." Tsuike squirmed.

"Stop complaining. This place has laws that say that Akari can't go." Taryan's voice was unaccompanied by a hologram, but Tsuike flinched all the same. "Any other complaints?" Taryan's tone indicated that that question wasn't a suggestion for more comments. "No? Then teleport them to the spaceport, while you land in the Forbidden Forest."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

"General Tonalia. It's nice to meet you." Tsuike walked up to the tall man in military clothing. A long, imposing sword was at his side.

"Ah, Prince Tsuike, the sentiment is shared." Then he turned his head to look at the others with him. "Lady Priene? What is the reason for your visit?"

"I let you know I was coming. Besides, I've neglected my responsibilities for the last eight years." Nicole responded.

"Right. Now who are these other two visitors?"

Tsuike stepped up, and motioned to each one. "This is Princess Kori, and Princess Saya. They are..."

"Yes, I know the situation behind everything." Then he turned to Nicole. "Do they actually apply to the law?"

"Yes. Prince Tsuike and Princess Saya both come from Earth..."

"Earth? Which planet is that?"

"It's the only planet with life in sector 120-85."

"120-85? That backwater area of the galaxy?" Tsuike cleared his throat. "...Well, anyway, what about Princess Kori?"

"She's, a special case. Classified, as you know. But she does still conform to the law."

"Fine. If you say she is okay, then I can't argue with it. Let's go back to my house."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

Soft music was playing throughout the house. "Welcome to my home." General Tonalia said, sweeping his left hand in a grand gesture. The house was decorated with many weapons, especially large swords. "I'll introduce you to my family." He snapped his fingers, and four people walked into the room from different areas of the house. Standing in a line, he pointed to a tall woman with long blond hair. "This is my wife, Tarin. Next to her are my twin daughters, Jysa and Kilsa." As he said that, he pointed to the two 16 year old girls. They looked exactly the same, except Jysa's hair was short and she had green eyes, while Kilsa's hair was very long and she had blue eyes. "And last but not least, this is my son, Terriseth." He pointed to a young child, 7 years of age. He had blond and silver hair. He carried a toy sword with him. When Kori saw him, she shook, and gripped her stomach.

"Kori, are you all right?" Tsuike asked, a concerned look on his face.

Kori drew a shaky breath. "I'm...fine. Don't worry about me."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

They all sat at the dining room table, trying to finish their meals as quickly as possible. After laying down his utensils, General Tonalia broke the silence. "So, I'll ask again, why are you here?"

"I'm here to check on the security system. Apparently, the Nutos army has been having quite a few skirmishes with them."

"I do have to apologize for that, it seems that some of those in charge are getting a little greedy."

"I'm sure. I hope I don't have to up the settings."

"But that will put tons of innocents in danger!" General Tonalia stood up and leaned over the table.

Nicole stood and slammed her hands on the table. "But the danger caused by using Nuos tech for monetary gain will put a whole universe in danger! If that machine is used improperly, it could cause a dimensional collapse from the fourth dimension DOWNWARD! That is everyone in the dimension we know and in the dimension above us! EVERYTHING WE KNOW WOULD BE DESTROYED!"

"Daddy, if it's dangerous, why do we have that stuff around?" Terriseth spoke.

"Because...uh..." General Tonalia was speechless. It seemed that his soft spot was his son. "I'll try my best to stop their raids." His face softened, and he sat back down.

Nicole sat back down as well. "I know it's not your fault, General. I'll try to keep the security system from killing anyone."

"That's fine. Now for the people my question was directed at." General Tonalia turned to face Tsuike. "Why are you here?"

"Well, we're here for your daughters." Tsuike said, uncomfortably.

"My...daughters? Hmm...Prince Tsuike...Novaus? Terriseth, go into your room and play." After he left, General Tonalia's face changed, his eyes icy cold. "So, the Urians have returned for their own. Too bad you didn't consider my opinion. I refuse. "

"But..." Tsuike began.

"I SAID I REFUSE! This dinner is over!" General Tonalia walked out of the room.

"Sorry, but I think you better go." Tarin said, pointing them to the door.

"Sorry for the trouble we caused." Tsuike bowed to her, and they all walked out of the house.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

"Geez...stupid...out..of...touch...royalty!" Deep in the forest, behind the Tonalia house, deep impressions covered the tree trunk. Kilsa stood, punching the tree. Jysa sat in a branch high up in the tree.

"Sis, you shouldn't be practicing out here. Eventually dad will catch us. Besides, what about the poor tree?"

"I'm not practicing. I'm just working off some steam. Besides, you can fix it, right?"

"But those kind of impressions can't be caused by anyone but a bare handed fighter. You know how dad reacted when we told him we wanted to learn to fight, so we could help the army. And just because I can heal the poor thing doesn't mean it's not mean."

"Yeah but..." Kilsa stopped, looking into the distance.

"What is it?" Jysa looked in the same direction. She saw four shadows. "It's the royalty from earlier. HEY!" Jysa waved, and the figures turned.

As the figures moved towards them, Kilsa crossed her arms. "You couldn't get it by asking, so you are going to take it by force?"

Tsuike shook his head, more in disbelief than in opposition. "No, we're headed back to our ship."

Kilsa rolled her eyes, "Yeah, right." Then she looked over at the tree she was just hitting. "Alright...I'll believe you if you can beat me in a fight." She breathed in, then moved into a defensive stance.

Tsuike scratched his cheek. "Um, I don't really fight girls."

"So what do you do to them then? Why are they all following you, shame?"

"Geez...I'll play it your way." Tsuike undid the robe, revealing his normal clothes underneath. He pulled out Seretion and engaged it.

"No, I mean bare handed. This way it'll be your power I defeat, not something else's. Are you ready?"

"Fine." Tsuike took the sunglasses, the two sheaths, and Seretion, and put them on top of the robe he was just wearing. "More or less, I suppose."

Kilsa charged Tsuike. He waited for her to get into range, and whipped out his leg, tripping her. "Oh, so that's the way you want to play." She stood up, and sent out a flurry of punches. Drawing back, he dodged all of them.

"Come on, I expected better than this." Tsuike's comment made Kilsa stop for a second, which she followed the pause with a three combo punch The first two Tsuike dodged by a hair. On the last trail, she extended her middle knuckle, and a ribbon of blue energy streamed behind it. Tsuike dodged the punch, but his cheek was grazed by the energy, giving it a small cut.

"How was that?"

"Fine, if that's the way you want to play it!" Tsuike charged at her, his right hand glowing yellow.

"Tsuike, stop! She's water!" Kori yelled. Tsuike stopped in his tracks, only to be kicked in the face by Kilsa.

"Why'd you stop?" She asked, as Tsuike was rising to his feet.

"Because that was electric energy. You would have been seriously hurt or killed."

"So? I can take it."

"Haven't they taught you basics of elements?" Nicole asked. "He stopped because you are water. He would have killed you."

"Aren't you the one who said the basics weren't important, sis?" Jysa yelled down from the tree.

"Well, I can't help it if we had to enter the class late because we had to sneak around dad!" Kilsa yelled back up.

"Hey Tsuike, instead of fast and strong, think slow and big!" Kori yelled.

"What? That doesn't make any sense." Tsuike turned around.

"Your energy...look out!"

Tsuike turned to see Kilsa charging him. She continued to punch, using the water energy ribbons from before. Tsuike tried to block it, shaping his energy the way Kori told him to. Kilsa's energy froze in mid air, falling to the ground. "Sweet!" Tsuike filled his palms with the same ice energy. Dodging her next attack, he dove, grabbing both of her ankles. Her shoes froze, stuck to the ground. After that, he grabbed both of her wrists, freezing them together. As she struggled, Tsuike pulled back his hand, as if to strike.

"Go ahead, do it!" Kilsa said, looking Tsuike in the eyes.

Tsuike swung, but stopped three inches away from her face. Instead, he lifted his hand another inch, and poked her in the forehead. "I win. Saya, if you will do the honor?" Tsuike grinned.

Saya stepped forward. Placing her hand on Kilsa's wrists, she melted the ice. She did the same with her ankles. "That should be much better."

At that moment, three humanoid robots came crashing through the brush. Tsuike dove for Seretion and his sunglasses. Rolling, he engaged both of the blades, and dashed through two of them with his swords spread like wings. He jumped, and connected Seretion and his key together. Shooting once, he shot through the forehead of the last robot, which fell over.

"Hmm, looks like that training paid off. What were those things?" Saya said.

"The ancient's security system. For some strange reason, it's been attacking more often. Normally, the Nuos representative stays here to keep track of it's movements and guard it from those who would use it for evil. However, since I have been busy guarding Tsuike, the system as been running on auto. It seems that people have escalated in their efforts to steal Nuos tech. " Nicole explained the situation to all of them.

"Hey, Nicole, do you mind if we go into the Forbidden City?" Kori said, her face twisted as if in thought.

"Sure, but we have to let General Tonalia know. You two can come along too."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

"You want me to let you do WHAT?" General Tonalia's yelling attracted the attention of his neighbors. "First, you're after my daughters, and now you want into the Forbidden City? What, are you trying to give the Urians Nuos technology?"

"General, you are way out of line there! Besides, you know that the Urian royal family is entitled to the technology, next to me, they have the most Nuon blood. What is your problem with Uragin anyway?" Nicole chastised, arguing him down.

"It's just that Uragin is willing to use everybody, themselves, their children, to protect the galaxy. Of course I knew my girls were from Uragin, but I've spent my life trying to keep them away from the battlefield. Of course I don't want them to go to a planet that protects everyone. That's my job." He calmed down. "I understand, if you want to take some people into the forbidden city, I can't stop you. Do as you wish."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

"Wow, dad really wasn't happy about their visit, was he?" Kilsa said, talking with her sister.

"Yeah, but I can understand wanting to protect someone important to you." Tsuike imposed in their conversation. "Why did you take combat classes around your father?"

"Because of the same reason. We want to protect people too." Kilsa responded.

"Plus, it's another way for Kilsa to compete with someone. She's very competitive." Jysa whispered to Tsuike.

"Oh, I guess I should have figured that out." Tsuike whispered back. "Why does General Tonalia back down every time he's talking to you, Nicole? Is he a weak person?"

"No, he's the head over the entire Nutos army. See, the Nutos lived alongside the Nuos. However, they didn't have the same knowledge, or special skill of knowledge transference. Think of them as distant cousins. The Nutos are the guardians for the Nuos. However, even though the Nutos have their own government, they are still subservient to the Nuos."

"What?" Saya tilted her head in confusion.

"In other words, Nicole, as the Nuon representative, is at the top of the government."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

"Alright, we're at the entrance to the forbidden city."

Tsuike was too busy looking around to hear Nicole. What he expected from an ancient city was ruins, decaying buildings, and area that felt dead. The city in reality was beautiful, a clear blue lake, each building looked like a different gemstone. There was snow everywhere. "This...is...amazing!"

"This is the pride and joy of the Nuos...the Forbidden city. See each building? They are all different computers." Nicole took a couple steps farther, then turned around. "You guys can look around for a little bit...I have to go check the security settings."

"So you're just gonna leave us alone?"

"Well, you guys aren't allowed where I'm going... so yeah. It'll be pretty hard for you guys to use anything anyway." Nicole walked away.

Tsuike began walking around, admiring the beauty of the city.. While he was walking, he saw a figure standing on the shore of the lake. "Kori? Kori! What are you up to?" Kori didn't hear him. Stripping down to a swimsuit under her dress, she jumped into a lake. Tsuike ran over to the shore...and peered into the clear water. Kori swam to the bottom of the lake, and picked up a backpack. Swimming back up, she saw Tsuike staring at her.

"Oh, Tsuike, I didn't expect you to be there. Give me a minute." She opened the bag, and started pulling out various weapons, gems, and items.

"Wow, that bag doesn't look big enough to handle all of that stuff! How is that possible?" Tsuike asked.

"Technically, it isn't big enough to handle all of this stuff. It just works off the same principle as Iragi psuedospace." Then she pulled out a notebook. After opening the book, she closed her eyes and set the book down, with her face facing the sky. All the ink inside the book had run, making it illegible. "Well, I guess it's my fault for hoping." With tears streaming down her face, she set the book ablaze.

"Why did you do that? What was it?"

"My diary. When I was a girl, I wasn't allowed to learn history. My mother told me that I could keep a diary of what was going on, but ever since I ended up on earth, I haven't been able to remember clearly. I was hoping that my diary was still intact. It's sad, I can't even remember my mother's face, or my sister's name. Let alone my sister's fiancee. All I can remember clearly is the rule on history, and how I felt after my mom left/died."

"Left/died?"

"My mom didn't die till I was twenty two, but a certain thing she did trapped her till her death. I don't like to talk about it."

"Sorry..." Tsuike started to stand, to give Kori some space, but she grabbed his hand.

"Please...could you stay for a while?" Kori was shaking.

"Sure." Tsuike took off his jacket and put it over Kori. "You're still soaked, you're probably cold." He sat back down, and took both of her hands. Swaying gently, he tried to warm her up while stroking her shoulder.

"Sorry, I'm getting you all wet. I can't put my dress back on till I dry off." Kori laid her head on his shoulder, but the rocking put her to sleep.

Standing twenty yards away from them, the other three sat and watched the two of them.

"It's been a crazy day for Kori. I'm not surprised she's tired." Nicole began.

"Aww, that's kinda sweet of him." Jysa said.

"Hmph! Is that really the best he's got?" Kilsa crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Now now sis. Don't get jealous..." Jysa responded. Her comment didn't earn a verbal response, but Kilsa did turn her head and blush.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Sixteen Line Break**

"Finally, a way to get rid of that goody two shoes General...thanks to our guests."


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Seventeen

Nicole sat alone in a room deep in one of the buildings of the Ancient City. Typing on a holographic screen, she was intensely searching for the reason to the attacks. "The system is going crazy in response to them? I really hope that it doesn't activate while they are here, it could spell trouble for Tsuike's and everyone's still budding powers. And what is this...? That...shouldn't exist."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

Tsuike and Kori were asleep by the lakeside, with Saya, Kilsa and Jysa asleep a couple yards away. Bathed in the blue light of the lake, everything seemed calm. Kori's white gem began to flash red, waking her from her slumber. "CRAP!" She yelled, scrambling to get herself together. Light flashes lit the area, as lasers threatened to pierce the group. Just as they were about to impact, a barrier stopped the shots from killing them.

"Alright, you guys really need to get out of here." A hologram of Nicole stood next to them. "I can hold the line long enough for you guys to leave, but you have to go now."

"Aww, no time to get dressed?" Kori said, fingering her dress.

"I don't actually mind seeing you in that." Tsuike responded, looking Kori up and down.

"Ignoring Tsuike's recent entry into puberty, get going!" Nicole yelled, while pointing to a squadron of robots marching toward them. As the group ran, Nicole pressed a button. "Princess Akari, you should take off right now. I'll lower the barrier so that those who are coming can be teleported out."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

"General Tonalia, I do hereby place you under arrest, for treason against Nuos Government." A solder with several squadrons of soldiers behind him stood, ready for battle.

General Tonalia stared directly into the soldiers eyes. "Do you always follow orders without questioning them? No matter." The General drew his sword. "I know you have orders to erase my family after taking me into custody. That's not going to happen. I'm the leader for the entire army for a reason." He stood, barring entry into his house.

"Sorry Mr. Tonalia," the soldier said, drawing attention to the fact that he didn't use his title. "But we have absolute orders to take you back." He raised his hand, and all the soldiers raised their rifles. Pointing toward Tonalia, all soldiers opened fire. Tonalia slashed sideways in response, sending out a black wave of energy toward the soldiers.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

Tarin and Terriseth ran out the back door, to be greeted by another platoon of soldiers. "Sorry, but our orders are to make sure you two don't report what happens here."

"Get behind me!" She yelled to Terriseth. When he moved, she snapped her fingers. "Shine!" Small explosions scattered the soldiers, and the two of them ran through the broken ranks. "Don't take it too hard, before I got married, I used to be second in command!" She yelled back, running into brush with her son.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

"Let's go!" Kori yelled. The group was running through the forest, trying to reach the Tonalia house.

"How did she manage to get that dress back on while running?" Tsuike thought. As he opened his mouth to ask, a laser shot flew over his shoulder. He looked back to see a couple of the robots on wheels, chasing them."Geez...looks like we have company."

"I'm on it." Jysa held both of her hands in front of her chest, forming a green ball between them. She sent the ball of energy into the ground, without slowing down. As the robots passed that point, green spikes of energy penetrated the robots wheels, trapping them. "And that should be that." After she said that, a much larger group came though the brush. "I guess I spoke too soon." Creating a significantly larger energy ball, she threw it into the ground. Large amounts of ivy grew, tying up the robots. "THAT, should be that."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

Tonalia was surrounded by unconscious soldiers. "Well, that took a lot more out of me than expected. No matter. I have to make sure my family is okay." He then sent a sharp arrow of dark energy through the house, dashing behind it as it traveled.

"Dance puppet, dance." A voice said from behind the unconscious troops. "Let's continue on. We have to sneak up on him."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

"KYA!" Tsuike ran headlong into the escaping Tarin. "What are you doing here?" They both exclaimed at the same time.

"We're on the run from the troops!" Tarin said.

"Why are you on the run from the troops?" Kori asked.

"I don't know. What about you guys?"

"We're on the run from the security system." Jysa calmly responded.

"Why is the security system after you?" Tonalia showed up behind his wife and son.

"I think that I should answer that question." The voice from earlier said. Tsuike engaged Seretion, wary of the new voice. "Now I wouldn't think of doing anything heroic, Prince. This isn't Tackard, you can't just waltz in here and expect to fix everything."

"Tackard? That was you who did that?" Tonalia asked.

"Honestly, I'd expect better from the one I left in charge of all my troops. Of course he was. For your first question, EX-general, the security system is after them for allowing unauthorized intruders inside. In order to let Kilsa and Jysa through, our dear Lady Priene had to drop the barrier on those of Nutos descent. That allowed a couple of...intruders into the system, which the system sees them as responsible for. But that's not all." The man cleared his throat. "I believe that young lady there," he said, pointing at Kori, "committed a crime against intergalactic law. As President of the planet Tonos, I'm afraid that I'll have to administer punishment." President Tonos signaled for all of his troops to fire.

A barrage of lasers threatened to pierce Tsuike and everyone.

Tarin dashed to get in front of them. Snapping her fingers, a barrier of light energy shielded them, reflecting the lasers back into the dirt.

"Ugh, I always hated those snaps. Make sure you take down Tarin Tonalia as well, she entered the city to keep an eye on her kids!"

"Don't you have a better option than killing us all in front of the young boy?" Saya said, pointing toward the frightened boy hiding behind his father.

"Why don't we just leave our home, and never come back? A forced exile." Kilsa said defiantly, prodding the others to turn into the forest and leave.

"Like we're gonna let you get away...MEN!" The president signaled for them to attack. As the began to charge, Terriseth tried to chase after his retreating family, crying out their names. "Don't let a single one escape!"

Kori's Gem began to glow red. As blue energy began to swirl around her, she held her hand with her bracelet in front of her. Swinging her staff, she yelled, "SAPIENS GLACIES!", after which a gigantic stone of ice appeared in front of her. It shattered, revealing a giant bird of ice, which resembled an owl. It cocked it's head at the stunned army, and began flapped it's wings, pelting them with ice and freezing the ground. It then flew over their heads, disappearing. The group was gone. Terriseth was on the ground, unconscious. His arm was covered in blood, having been struck by one of Kori's shards.

Tonalia sank to the ground. Battle hardened, he thought he could handle anything, but his whole family disappearing before his eyes overwhelmed him. Suddenly, the forest around him began to catch fire. Glancing around, he saw that the President of Tonos was no longer there. "He's trying to get rid of all of the evidence!" General Tonalia scooped Terriseth up, and ran. "TSUIKE, TAKE CARE OF MY FAMILY!", he stopped to yell over the roar of the flames. Unsure whether or not Tsuike heard him, he continued to run, protecting what was left of his family.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

Back on the bridge of Carrie.

"That was a total disaster." Tsuike said, scratching his head. "Thanks for the the escape move Kori." Kori put her hand over her stomach, and started to stagger forward toward Tsuike, leaning against him.

"KORI!" Akari screamed in shock and in jealousy.

"Akari, something is wrong." Tsuike said. Trying to hold Kori in his arms, he saw that she was unconscious, a growing red stain appearing on the stomach of her dress. "CARRIE! Infirmary, NOW!"

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

_"You're pushing yourself too far, Kori. You may be Nuos, but stealing energy through time isn't healthy. Plus you're keeping secrets you desperately want to tell, even if you can't remember them properly." Nicole sat in front of Kori, in an empty blue room._

_ "But you don't know where I've been. I have to keep quiet." Kori responded naturally, not realizing that she was looking at Nicole sideways._

_ "Being Nuos isn't that big of a problem. And I'm sure that machine modified your memories on purpose. Just because you can remember a thing or two here or there won't change anything." Nicole paused, switching gears. "Besides, why did you use a Calling? Your body can't handle the energy usage of an Alpha level, let alone a Beta level Call. A simple fog would have sufficed, but it seemed you were trying to attack someone..." Nicole sighed. "If it's for something that happened to you when you were younger, killing them now would do nothing."_

_ Kori's face twisted into a sadder expression. "I wouldn't try to do that, if I did, mom would be disappointed. Plus, what would Tsuike think?"_

_ "I know you wouldn't try to kill them consciously, but subconsciously you might. The system responded to you and your animosity."_

_ "So all that was my fault?" Kori sat up, trying to look Nicole in the eye._

_ "Not completely, it also responded to the fact that you do and do not belong here. The fact that you carry the same white gem as I do testifies to that fact. However, it seems that time line wise, you do fit here, so you can stop worrying about your place here."_

_ Kori looked a little relieved. "So where are we?"_

_ "We are in a dream. You passed out due to your injuries."_

_ "What injuries? I didn't get hit once on that planet."_

_ "Well, I'm not necessarily sure..." Nicole tapped her cheek, musing over the possibilities. "Well, I think it was a combination of drawing energy through time, and psychosis. Something from your past caused your mental instability, which caused your wound to regress and reopen."_

_ "Well, a Terriseth did cause this wound, but they aren't the same person, this Terriseth isn't old enough. Anyway, if this is a dream, how are you here?"_

_ "I'm communicating through our gems. Also, since you weren't "born" Nuon, I'm doing your mental transfer, to give you the knowledge."_

_ "WAIT!"_

_ "Hmm?"_

_ "I'll never be the Nuos representative. I don't want the knowledge, or at least this way. I'd prefer to learn it on my own."_

_ Nicole chuckled. "You really sound like Tsuike right now, you know that? I'll hold off on your transfer. If you change your mind, it's all in your Bacca. Anyway, you should get some rest, it was an especially bad injury. " Nicole stood up and turned away from Kori, just to turn back. "By the way, I managed to transfer knowledge of Latin. It's a language spoken on earth, you'd be surprised how similar it is to Nuon." Nicole disappeared, and Kori slipped into a deeper state of unconsciousness._

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Seventeen Line Break**

Tsuike sat next to Kori's sleeping form, in the infirmary. "Geez, you certainly are a lot of trouble sometimes."

"That's not nice." A hologram of Nicole appeared. "This...is quite a mess you left here Tsuike. The Nutos seem to have begun an all out war with the Nuos security system."

"I didn't want that to happen." Tsuike responded.

Nicole sighed audibly. "Don't carry so much on your shoulders, this was bound to have happened eventually. But seriously though, this girl really does start trouble wherever she goes." Nicole looked down at Kori, who was starting to stir. "Well, in any case, give my regards to Queen Dayko when you see her in person. Oh, and don't tell her about anything on Tonos." Nicole quickly disappeared, as if she were trying to not get caught by Kori.

"Unng..." Kori's voice caught Tsuike's attention, and he looked down at her face just as her eyelids fluttered. "Tsuike?" She moaned, opening her eyes.

"You know, I don't hate this wound, this is the second time I've gotten to stare into your emerald green eyes."

"Shush you. Anyway, I have something I need to tell you."

"Don't push yourself. You can always tell me later."

"I'm Nuon." Kori said, sitting up. The two of them sat in silence for a couple seconds. "Aren't you surprised?"

"Not really, I kind of expected it at this point."

"Nicole is my sister."

"Wait, what? How?"

Kori giggled. "That was the reaction I was looking for. Nicole is my sister, we have the same mom...well, sort of."

"Well, I've known her for years, and Nicole never mentioned having a sister."

"It was probably to protect me. Since I'm not the Nuos Representative, I'm not gonna be protected by the security system. That makes me a target, so I have to keep my identity a secret."

"Why would you be a target?"

"I can't tell you that..."

Tsuike stood up."Well, I'm sure you'll tell me eventually. I'll let you get some rest." He starts to walk out of the door, then stops. Crossing the distance between the two of them, Tsuike surprised Kori with a kiss. Pulling back by a couple inches, he rested his forehead on hers, looking directly into her eyes. "You really gave me a scare there. Try not to be so reckless.."

Kori smiled softly, then shot Tsuike with a blast of ice energy, knocking him across the room. "I'll be more careful next time, but you really need to stop switching between all of us, it's not right. Try that again, and you'll be stuck in the bed right next to me."

Tsuike winced, picking himself off the floor. "Well, didn't expect that. Anyway, get some rest." Tsuike quickly walked out of the infirmary, embarrassed.

"Poor guy. That was cruel to reject him like that." Jysa dropped down from the ceiling. "You could have just said no." Jysa put her hand on her hip, shifting her weight on one leg.

Kori immediately turned red. "You saw that? I was just..."

Jysa sighed. "He's dense, but not that dense. Eventually he'll figure it out." Jysa walked to the door. "But you really should get some rest, Carrie said that injury was life threatening. Oh, and maybe you should apologize for being so harsh, he did watch over you for the past two days."

"I've been asleep for two days?"

"Yeah, and Dayko has been trying to give us orders, but Tsuike wouldn't listen till he knew you were alright. Well, do whatever you think is best." Jysa walked the door.

Kori sat in though for a second, and then sunk back under the sheets, returning to sleep.


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

"I understand your concern, but that doesn't mean you can just abandon your responsibilities. I think Kori punished you enough for that, so we don't have to compound it." Taryan chuckled.

Tsuike turned bright red, and looked down at his shoes. He opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it, changing his mind.

"Now now, I'm sure the awkwardness will torture Tsuike for a while, but right now, I have a special mission for you guys. Akari and Milia already have this ship headed for your next target. You are orbiting around the planet Hinzer." Dayko said.

"Shouldn't we wait for Kori?" Tsuike asked.

"Not in this case...her injury is too great, she'll be on bed rest for a while. Besides, we can't show holographic footage of the bedrooms on the ship. What if Kori wasn't...dressed for a public discussion?"

Tsuike turned even more red than he already was. "I see your point, sorry for interrupting." He mumbled meekly.

"Now now, we all get rejected every once in a while, you can't let it destroy your confidence." Taryan said, trying to hold back laughter.

"How do you guys know about this anyway?"

"Video feed of the infirmary...see?" A holographic projection of Tsuike being blasted by Kori appeared in front of the group.

Tsuike didn't see it when it happened, he only experienced it before. As the video feed looped, all the color drained from Tsuike's face.

"Come on guys...don't you think he's had enough?" Saya stood next to Tsuike, comforting him.

"That's right, we're starting to get behind." Dayko cleared her throat to accentuate her point. "The next princess you're searching for will be on this planet. This is a dry planet, mainly mining. Tsuike, Saya, and Akari will go."

"So there's nothing to worry about? No political issues to avoid?" Saya asked.

"No, this planet doesn't have anything like that. The Greks are all over the place. This will be more of a...battlefield than a diplomatic visit." Taryan said, back to his serious tone. "Milia's power isn't strong enough to deal too much damage to the Greks at this point, Jysa and Kilsa need a lot more work to be able to stand up to them on a regular basis."

"Hey!" Kilsa yelled in response.

"Sorry, but it's true." Taryan cleared his throat. "We can't order Tarin around, since she not a part of the Urian government, so she decided that she was gonna work with Kilsa and Jysa on their powers. And last, Kori is on bed rest after the events on Tonos."

"Why is it such a battlefield if that you've picked out the team to go?" Jysa asked sideways.

"The battle seems to be over the princess you're looking for. It seems that this one has an amazing amount of power, and the Greks are after it."

"Well, who is she? What does she look like?" Tsuike asked impatiently.

"That's something you have to figure out. I don't think it'll take too long though. Even though Kori pointed it out for you with that ability of hers in the past, you shouldn't have any troubles. Now get going, everything else you'll have to figure out on your own. Oh...and Fiernace is here, so if you're having any troubles, you should be able to go to him. Alright, we're going, be careful while you're on this planet." Taryan's hologram disappeared.

"Bye." Dayko waved as her hologram disappeared.

They all stood, watching the places where their holograms were. Then, Tsuike sighed audibly. "Well, I guess we should get started."

"Yes, I believe so too. Carrie, if you will." Akari said.

"Yes Mistress." A bright light enveloped Tsuike, Saya, and Akari, as they were teleported away.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Eighteen Line Break**

The three of them appeared in the middle of a dusty town. "Besides all of the dust, this isn't all that bad." Saya said. As she said that, three baels rolled in front of them, growling. Akari pulled the hammer off of her back, and swept them away with a single swing. Knocking them back, they lunged at the group. Saya cut them all in half, the metal shells still glowing red with heat.

"Wow, you've gotten a lot stronger." Tsuike remarked.

"I don't think you really have time to be thinking about something like that. There's a small band of Greks headed your way. I would suggest heading for the large building due north of your location." Carrie's voice came audibly from the sunglasses on Tsuike's head. "That is the building of the main government on this planet." Howling and mechanical scraping could be heard in the distance, getting louder. "I would advise moving you guys."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Eighteen Line Break**

"Prince Novaus, what a surprise to see you here." Fiernace said, looking out the window. Without turning around he gestured "Welcome to my office. I'm the leader of this planet."

"It's nice, but why is it in the middle of the building? Why not put it on the top?" Saya asked.

"Because we are in the middle of battle with the Greks. This office would have been destroyed long ago if it were the top. If you don't mind my asking, why are you all here?"

"We're looking for a princess, apparently there is one on this planet."Akari said.

Fiernace spun around, surprise covering his face. "There's a princess here? I didn't know that, that explains why the Greks are attacking all over."

"That's interesting, I figured the Queen would have let you know about something like that. Anyway, do we have your support?"

Fiernace regained his composure. "Yes, I'm happy to be at your disposal, Princess. According to the information I have on you all, I am surprised not to see Princess Kori here, it appears that she is almost required to search for the other princesses. Anyway, feel free to rest here for the rest of the day, we'll help you search tomorrow."

"Actually, I'd like to look around for a while, I've been in the same room for two days." Tsuike said.

"Well, be careful out there, we're constantly under attack."

"We'll go with him, don't worry about it." Saya said.

"Alright then. Be careful while you are on your way."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Eighteen Line Break**

Tsuike, Akari and Saya walked away from the building. Stopping, Tsuike turned around and looked at the building. "Did anything seem weird about that?"

"Yeah. Didn't the queen say that he was in charge of this part of the galaxy? Why wouldn't she have told him that there was a princess here?" Saya asked.

"She would have," Akari trailed off, walking back toward the building and looking closer at the damage. "This was not caused by Greks. They would have caused more damage." Akari began to run her fingers over the etchings. "These were caused by weapons, weapons that a humanoid would use. Adding that to the sandstorms regularly had on this planet, I would have to say that these are recent."

"Yeah, but who would try to attack the main building?" As soon as Tsuike said that, he unsheathed his sword, holding it in a reverse fashion behind his back to block. A loud ring shot from behind him, as a greatsword clashed against his own blade. Sending an electric wave through the blade, his attacker jumped backwards before they were affected by the attack.

Tsuike spun around to face his attacker, and was shocked at what he saw. A girl his height stood, holding her giant sword in front of her. Her brown, wavy, shoulder length hair spilled down, cascading around her face, but not blocking her purple eyes. The sword was about five feet in length, and was four feet wide, made completely of metal, making it incredibly heavy. It was a relatively simple design, a weapon more designed for hacking and slashing than stabbing.

"We were hoping to use you as leverage. We'd prefer that this battle came to an end as soon as possible, Prince."

"Who are you?" Tsuike asked.

"My name isn't important." Slashing at Tsuike, she lunged forward with every evaded move of his. Tsuike then retaliated with a stab, which she blocked by holding her sword in front of her. Then Tsuike started making curved strikes, all of which she blocked. She then swung hard and wide horizontally, which Tsuike jumped over by placing the palm of his hand on her sword the second it swept under him, attempting to shoot energy into the blade, which she countered by spinning the sword, knocking his hand away.

Landing, Tsuike took the sunglasses off his head, changing it into a hilt and drew the metal blade out of his holster. At the same time, the girl shifted to carrying the giant sword with her right hand, and pulled a slightly smaller one off her back. "Isn't that heavy?"

"No, it's just fine." The girl smiled, then dashed at Tsuike, slashing high from above. Tsuike turned his blade sideways above his head and blocked it, slashing sideways with his other sword. She blocked it with her second sword, then backed off. Slashing back and forth, She attempted to knock Tsuike off balance. After her assault, Tsuike punched both of his fists forward, sending a large arctic wind back at her, blowing her backwards. Stabbing her swords into the ground, she formed two yellow energy swords in her hands.

"Manipulation..." Akari whispered under her breath.

Tsuike sheathed his swords, engaging the energy blades on both of them as he pulled them back out. Both of them dashed forward. As the green and yellow blades met, there was a white flash. Tsuike pushed with his sword in a plus shape, while the girl pushed with a cross shape.

"Quite a weird way of holding those." She grunted.

A lightning bolt struck between Tsuike and the girl, causing the two to jump backwards. "Sis! We've been told to withdraw!" A female voice rang out.

"Ugh. To be continued." The girl back flipped, grabbing her swords in the process. Then she ran into the distance.

"Tsuike, shouldn't we chase her?" Saya asked.

"Yes, but we'll let her go for now. She has her own things to worry about." Looking back at the administration building, he said "I think we should take Fiernace up on his offer."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Eighteen Line Break**

Sitting in a small dining room, the three of them sat and talked after eating. Akari and Tsuike both responded dully, not really paying any attention to their surroundings.

"Something on your mind guys? Saya asked, attempting to snap them back to reality.

"Well, a couple things are bothering me." Akari began, without changing her gaze. "That girl who attacked us earlier was very strong and experienced. If her strength is indicative of the residents of this planet, then the damage done to this building would have been greater. That leads me to believe that whoever did that damage, did it on purpose not to destroy, but to send some kind of message."

"Not only that, but she was holding back. I could read her like a book, even when she attacked behind my back." Tsuike's gaze became even more unfocused.

"How did you know she was going to attack you?" Saya asked inquisitively. "It almost seemed like you expected it."

"I was curious about that also. No offense, but your lack of battle experience does show in a lot of your battles. However, you read and preempted your opponent nicely. It is just as Saya said, almost like you expected it." Akari interjected.

"I did, it's what I would have done if I was going to try to capture someone. Attack from behind quickly without their noticing, to prevent it from being too painful. Every move she made I could read, but not only that, it seemed like she matched her moves to mine, as if she was reading me too." Tsuike snapped back to the table, and looked directly at Akari. "You don't think...?"

"That she is the princess we are looking for? I do not think so." Akari turned towards Saya, and closed her eyes.

"I agree with Akari." Saya closed her eyes as well. "I can feel something between me and the other girls, and I'm sure it's the same with Akari and the others, especially Kori. But with that girl, I didn't feel anything. She can't be one of us."

"The other thing that bothered me about that girl was her power. She formed light energy easily, but her fighting style says differently. With how strong she is, if she lowered the weight of those swords, she could swing them faster and harder, but she didn't. I don't think she's of the light type...and if she isn't, you would have lost if she was serious. Anyway, even though Fiernace told us the truth, I don't think he told us the whole story. Why didn't the security system deploy when she attacked us if they're having some kind of internal struggle?"

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Eighteen Line Break**

"Sir Fiernace." A female attendant walked into his office, to see him staring out the window, looking at the night sky with his hands behind his back. "Princess Akari and her entourage are looking for a place to rest for the night. I was going to give them a room in the compound."

"No." Fiernace quickly turned around. "Give them a room on the outskirts of the town."

"Excuse my question, but why out there? Wouldn't separating make it harder to guard them?"

"Don't give them guards. If we put them on the outskirts of the town without guards, there won't be any suspicion. It's a good way to keep the enemy distracted."

"As you wish."


	20. Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Nineteen

The sound of Tsuike's breathing was the only sound to be heard in the dark room. Quietly, a great sword slowly lowered itself towards Tsuike's exposed chest. Then, a light ringing came from the sword as it abruptly stoppeed. Tsuike, with his eyes still closed, was holding his sword defensively in front of his chest.

"What would you have done if I had jumped when I woke up?" Tsuike opened one eye.

"I was planning on placing my foot on your shoulder to keep you held down." The girl replied.

"That's a little more forceful than what I would have done, but it seems we think alike." Tsuike opened his other eye, and gripped his sword a little harder. "Now that that little plan has been ruined, how do you expect to kidnap me now?"

"Plan B." The girl took out a little headset. "Even though you are well prepared, I doubt both of your lady friends are." Redirecting to the microphone, she spoke, "Are you guys done on your end?"

"Yes ma'am. We are positioned to take both girls on your command." A female voice came in through the loud speaker.

"Really...I wouldn't have thought you to be the one to hide behind another." Tsuike said, more curious than angry

"I don't like this, but we need to end this war." The girl said, with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Alright, but I have two requests. One, bring my stuff. Two, leave the others here."

"I'd prefer not to take more prisoners than I need to." Speaking into the microphone again, she said, "Alright, we're ready. Leave the other two here."

"Yes ma'am." There was a shot of static, announcing the signal had been cut.

Holding up one finger, the girl lit up the room with it, her finger crackling with electricity. "Sorry, but you can't be awake for this part." As she touched the back of Tsuike's neck, he fell unconscious.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Nineteen Line Break**

"What do you mean, there is a princess on this planet? I thought that was the reason we came here in the first place?" Kori was lying in a bed covered in blue sheets, sitting up.

"Well, yes and no. When I did a scan of this planet just now, I found a life sign like one of yours, like a princess, but..." Carrie looked away.

"But what?"

"During the scan, I found two people with nearly identical DNA structures, and both of them are very similar to Tsuike's. I'm going to send the data to Fiernace, since this is his planet."

"That still doesn't answer my first question."

Carrie audibly sighed. "The princess they're looking for this time isn't like the princesses you and Akari and the others are."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Nineteen Line Break**

Tsuike awoke inside of a tent, untied with his swords next to him. He had been dressed in his sleep, which made Tsuike turn red. "Where are we?"

"We're in the camp outside our mine." The girl was sitting with her knees to her chest, her swords leaning against her.

"If I'm your captive, why aren't I tied up? Aren't you afraid I'll try to fight my way out of here?"

"Not really. And we don't want you to be tied up, it'll lower your chances of survival. This camp regularly comes under attack by Greks, so you'll need a way to defend yourself." She pointed to a full serving of bread and water. "You should eat something, we don't get too many chances to eat here."

"Speaking of eating, Tsuribe..." An old man slowly walked in. "Giving your food away again?"

"Chief! You can't just go giving out information like that! You said my name right in front of him."

"Why, at the moment this boy is our guest, not our enemy. Isn't that why you gave your food to him?"

"I gave it away because other people should eat before I do. I'm not all that important." Tsuribe leaned back and ruffled her hair slightly, looking to the side.

The old man held out a quarter piece of bread to her. "Here, eat."

"No! That's your food."

"If you won't eat it, then I guess no one will." The old man turned back out of the tent, preparing to throw the bread out the tent.

"Sis!" Another girl walked in and snatched the bread from his hand. "You know good and well that dad will throw it away if you don't accept it. We don't have enough food to go around as it is."

Tsuike snapped his fingers and a small ball of lightning flashed in the tent, quelling the argument. "Alright, will someone explain what's going on here? Who are you guys?" Tsuike turned his head to look at Tsuribe.

"I'll explain." The old man moved into a more comfortable position. "I am Chief Angell, leader and majority owner of this mining site." Pointing towards the girl with the long brown hair and purple eyes, he said, "This is Tsu..."

"Tsuribe! My name is Tsuribe. I live here with the Chief." The girl impetuously interjected. Tsuike took a good look at her. Her long hair spilled wavily from her head to her shoulders, resting there before continuing to fall a little further, curling slightly around her neck. Her frame was normal, but taking a closer look, her muscles seemed slightly more defined than most girls.

Chief Angell sighed, gesturing towards the other girl. "And this is my daughter, Surani Angell."

"Hi!" She responded in a cheery voice, taking Tsuike's hand. For the first time, he took a good look at her. She had the same shade of purple eyes as Tsuribe did, even though the look in her eyes was happier, whereas Tsuribe's was slightly fierce, reminiscent of Tsuike's father. Her straight brown hair was also very similar to Tsuribe's, except for the fact that her hair was longer than Tsuribe's, reaching halfway down her back even in the ponytail she had it in. She had a slender frame, and wore two daggers on her belt."We have a lot in common!" She extended her index finger, electricity crackling on her finger. "My name is Surani, but you can just call me Rani."

"Alright you two, why don't you go check on the rest of the camp." Rani jumped up and ran right out of the tent. Tsuribe's exit was more cautious, staring at the chief trying to figure his motives, before grabbing her swords and walking out. "Alright, now that we are alone, Prince Tsuike, I bet you're wondering why you're here. To put it bluntly, you are a bargaining chip."

Tsuike scratched his head. "Well, that certainly is blunt..."

"It's not what we would prefer to do, it's that we are running out of options. The village is running out of food."

"Why not petition the government for more food?"

"Look outside."

Tsuike peeked his head out of the tent, to see women all over the camp. The few men he saw dotted here and there were older. "Where are the men? Are they all in the mines?"

"No. Most of our strong women are in the mines. All of our young men were killed in the raids by the Greks sixteen years ago. Those that weren't are drafted into the government to help the army protect us. The only problem is, the new rules that our new government has set in place gives us our food allowance based on the amount of Zhing and other precious items mined in this planet."

"Why would he set a rule like that?"

"With the old rule, the government provided the food for everyone, but the downside was is that the minerals mined could be sold to anyone. The government was going broke. But this new rule forces us to give our minerals to the government to do as they see fit, and those who don't will not eat. The camps in this area, with their lack of strong men, don't have enough manpower to mine and protect at the same time. We're hoping we can use your position as a bargaining chip in our favor."

"I see."

"And, now for the reason I sent them away. You are traveling, looking for the lost princess, aren't you?"

"Lost princess?"

"The gem of the Urian family. The Princess. Her ability to control all elements without having a weakness of some sort. I believe that Rani is a part of her."

"Hmm? Why?"

"When we found her, she was nowhere near any adults. She was a very pale, sickly baby. No matter what, no mother would go through all of the trouble of birthing a baby like that and would leave her out in the middle of nowhere like that. I have to say that Rani doesn't have a mother. Plus, her unlimited powers with lightning are strong, so I'd have to assume that she is a princess, and you are here to take her with you."

"And you don't want her to come with us?" Tsuike thought back to the events on Tonos.

"No, I do want you to take her with you, to get her off this forsaken planet doomed to Grek attacks. I just want you to take Tsuribe with you too."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Nineteen Line Break**

A large explosion shattered all the windows in Fiernace's office.

"You... mean to tell me... that you have lost Tsuike?" Akari's bellows could be heard ringing throughout the entire compound.

"Well, Lady Lionne, it seems that he was kidnapped during the night." Fiernace nonchalantly dusted himself off. "And I would appreciate it if you wouldn't act in such an uncouth way, Princess. Seriously though, allowing your elemental control to slip, you could have killed us all."

"Why aren't you concerned for his safety?" Saya asked, trying to calm Akari down.

"Because, the ones who kidnapped him are just trying to sway the government. They probably won't bring any harm to him. We just need to wait till after we find what we need to go find him. Now if you'll excuse me." Fiernace walked out of the room, ending the conversation.

"Carrie!" Akari whispered, "Can you figure out Tsuike's position?"

"Yes, that's not a problem princess. It seems he's in the mountains north west of here, near the mines. There also seems to be a princess signature in his area, so I'm recommending teleportation."

"Go ahead, Carrie." As Akari said that, Akari and Saya were engulfed with a white light.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Nineteen Line Break**

Elsewhere...

"THIS SEARCH HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR YEARS. IT NOW BRINGS THE PRINCE CLOSE TO OUR GOAL. EVEN AFTER UPHOLDING OUR PART OF THE BARGAIN YOU STILL DO NOT DELIVER! DID YOU NOT PROMISE THAT WE WOULD FIND HER BEFORE THE QUEEN OF URAGIN DID?"

"Don't worry, by his coming to this planet, he's given us valuable information. Not only is the one we are searching for on this planet, but even another princess piece. He even brought two in tow with him. This works out in our favor. We'll gather them all in the same place, then take all we need at the same time."

"ALL RIGHT THEN. JUST MAKE SURE THAT THEY DO NOT ESCAPE."

"They won't. Even if they could overpower the forces on this planet, they won't compare to my new powers."

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Nineteen Line Break**

"And so, even in our already dire situation, we have even more visitors." Tsuribe was trying her hardest to keep her temper under control. Holding her sword in front of her, she faced down Saya, who was standing in battle position as well.

"I do not necessarily think you can call us visitors, think of us more like debt collectors. You have something of ours." Akari had her back to Saya, pointing her hammer at Rani, who held both of her daggers in front of her in a defensive and threatening manner.

"Now now, don't you guys start." Tsuike walked up, the wind blowing from behind him. "We're all on the same side here. Why don't you guys stop it?"

Saya retracted her spear, as Rani resheathed her daggers. Akari and Tsuribe weren't so trusting, continuing to keep their weapons drawn.

"Why should we trust this spoiled princess?" Tsuribe said, shifting her gaze from Saya to Akari.

"I agree. Why should we trust someone who kidnapped you?" Akari raised her hammer a little, obscuring Tsuribe's face from her view except for her eyes.

"Well, first off, calm down and look at the girl with the daggers." Tsuike said.

Saya looked at her, while Akari ignored Tsuike's request. Staring at Rani for a couple seconds, she then turned around and lowered Akari's hammer herself. "Akari, this one is..."

"A princess, right?" Akari responded, without breaking her gaze.


	21. Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty

"If you knew, why didn't you say anything?" Saya asked in disbelief.

"Because, I don't understand why they would need to kidnap Tsui." Akari responded.

"Tsui? Why'd you call me that?" Tsuike looked at Akari confused. He was ignored.

"Wait, I can understand if you were worried about his safety, but why are you still mad?"

"Because she's jealous." Tsuribe responded without missing a beat. Turning her head away from Akari for a second to look at Tsuike, she continued, "She's fine with Rani being around you, since she's a princess like her, but she's worried about me being around you."

"Why?"

"Because, me and you show a lot of signs of being close, the way we fight, even down to how we look. You don't need to worry though, he's not my type."

"Sure. How can I believe you are not interested in a Urian Prince?"

"Rebels! Place your weapons on the ground and put your hands up! Release the Urian royalty!" A squadron of the armed forces dropped from the sky, the leader barking orders as they drew up battle lines.

"Wait, you don't understand, they don't have me captured!" Tsuike protested.

"Then we'll have to take you into custody too!" Raising their weapons, they prepared to fire. Suddenly, a blade of wind shot through their ranks, flinging them like rag dolls behind Tsuike and the others, unconscious and wounded.

Fiernace stood behind them, carrying two sickles at his side. "I told you all not to jump the gun, we'll wait until it's time."

"What did you do? Why'd you attack your own men?" Tsuribe stood threateningly, holding her largest sword in front of her

"They were about to ruin my plan. If they took you all prisoner, you would all be taken back to Uragin, out of my reach."

"What do you mean?"

"It's my job to find Queen Dayko's daughter, and according to the scan that was provided by your ship, those two right there both have Urian blood in their veins."

"Wait, what do you mean both?" Tsuike questioned, puzzled.

"Oh? Miss Novaus, I do believe that you left some information out when you kidnapped him, didn't you? Don't worry, I shall explain the situation. The reason you look and act so much like Tsuribe over there, is because she is your twin, the missing daughter of Queen Dayko. To be specific, she is your older twin sister. The other girl next to her just copied her DNA, since there was no one around at the time of her landing here besides her. Why didn't you tell him?"

"Because that's a mighty big bomb to just drop on someone. Hey, I think I'm your twin sister! Yeah, that doesn't go over too well." Tsuribe responded sarcastically.

"No matter, it makes my job a lot easier. My mission was to find you and deliver you to my master."

"Master is a little bit of a strong word. We can go to see mom ourselves."

"NO, HE MEANS ME." A Cerberus Grek appeared behind the Fiernace, shimmering as his optical camouflage disabled.

"I no longer take orders from you and your kind, Akari!"He slashing with a sickle, he shot a blade of air, aiming at Akari. Shielding herself at the last minute, the force of his blow pushed her back, blowing a cloud of dust into the air.

"Flame Shard!" A blade of flame shot out from the tip of her spear, hitting Fiernace square in his chest, revealing green metal. As the cloud of dust subsided, they all stared at his chest.

"What are you? You used to be...organic..." Akari slowly asked, not able to take her eyes off of him.

"My gift from the Greks. My body is now much stronger than it used to be." Fiernace pulled out his second sickle. "I have chosen to side with them. I no longer have to follow the orders of the people, or of royalty of another planet. The only thing that they wanted was Princess Dayko's daughter. However, you were kind enough to provide me with her son, and three princesses as well." Fiernace jumped high in the air, diving at Akari. Rani jumped up in the air, blocking his attack with her daggers. "Big Mistake," she said. Twisting in the air, Fiernace kicked Rani in the back, sending her flying towards the ground.

Tsuribe ran to catch Rani, sliding as she caught her. Fiernace placed his feet on an imaginary wall of wind, jumping off towards the two of them. Tsuike jumped over Tsuribe from out of nowhere, slashing at him, cutting off the blade of one of his sickles. Fiernace began firing massive gusts of wind at the three of them. Tsuike took Tsuribe's massive sword and shielded the three of them with it, the blasts straining his arms.

"Somehow, I think I should expect more out of you." Fiernace calmly stated from his vantage point in the sky, continuing to pin the three of them down. Saya jumped as high as she could, swinging downward with her spear, which was blocked easily by Fiernace. Spinning her spear quickly, she tried to use the handle to hook behind the sickle, to pull it out of his hands. However, Fiernace held tightly onto his sickle, and was pulled along with it, flying downward toward the ground with her in tow. Swinging, he threw her at Tsuike who was charging him with one of Tsuribe's swords. Running at Akari, he began swinging at her, which she blocked with barriers. "I HATE you the most! Pretending you're so much better than everyone else by not using your powers!" Dropping down, he tripped her, then augmented his second kick with wind, sending her flying. "Are you going to blame your death on those rules you love so much?" Fiernacestood over her, prepared to strike her down. As he thrust his sickle forward, a small white explosion hit his arm.

"Someone who stopped being alive would not understand." Akari slid backwards from the explosion, holding her hands in front of her. "The rules help me to protect others."

Fiernace's maniacal laughing filled the air. "Good job Akari! Breaking the rules to destroy your enemy, you really are turning out to be Urian Royalty!"

"Do not call me that! You may only address me as Princess Akari or only by my title. You are not so familiar with me that you can refer to me in such a way!" Akari responded, panting.

"I think we went too far..." Rani said, staring at where his right hand would be. It was completely blown off, showing the green metal inside. Fiernace dashed at Akari again, trying to attack her. Rani dashed behind him, stabbing him and placing her feet on his shoulders, kicking off of them. Saya followed, swinging at his neck. However, Fiernace anticipated that, flipping her over his shoulder and striking her to the ground with the handless arm. Saya whipped out her spear, knocking him down as Tsuribe landed with a downward slash, completely separating his left arm from his body.

"I'm not done yet!" Fiernace rose to his feet, just to fall back down again. Neither of his legs were still attached to his body.

"It's over." Tsuike said, standing over him, his energy blades engaged.

"We will take you back to Uragin for sentencing."

"Not while I have an arm is this over!" Fiernace struggled to sit up, pushing himself upward with his severed arm.

"IT IS OVER. YOU HAVE LOST, AND EVEN THOUGH YOU FAILED TO CAPTURE THEM FOR ME, YOU DID BRING THEM HERE, SO I SHOULD REWARD YOU." The Cerberus moved over to him, and swallowed his body whole. Distorting it's body, another head sprouted from it's chest, it heavily resembling Fiernace's face. It vomited out the rest of his body parts, then crushed them under his paw.

"I should thank you for this opportunity, we now have much more power than we did before. With my wind, and their fire, there is nothing that can stop us." The head calmly stated.

Tsuike lunged forward, trying to keep the bread and water he had earlier down. "I destroyed one of you before, I can do it again!" As Tsuike thrusted Seretion, an energy field pushed his blade away, as a giant paw knocked him aside.

"YOU'LL NEED A LOT MORE POWER THAN THAT TO STOP ME!." Breathing in, he shot out a ball of fire, following it up with a shot of wind, propelling it Tsuribe and Rani. Rani pulled metal from the ground and formed an electromagnetic shield in front of her to block, with Tsuribe covering it in ice. When the fireball connected with the shield, it exploded, blowing the two of them off their feet. Saya threw a giant ball of fire from her palm, which was redirected off the energy field off into nowhere.

"It doesn't seem like we're not gathering enough energy to pierce that forcefield he's generating." Akari said to herself. "Tsuike, I need you to buy me some time, can you do that?"

Tsuike, still picking himself off the ground, replied, "Sure, why not?" Tsuike dashed at the hybrid creature, feinting when it swiped it's paw at him.

"Saya, can you form forcefields around anything?" Akari whispered to her mentally.

"I can try." She responded.

"It is important that you hold it together." Switching gears, she spoke mentally to Carrie. "I need you to temporarily remove the binds on my power."

"You aren't planning to..."

"I don't have a choice, if you fire on something this close to us and the village, you'll wipe us all out.."

"Fine."

Akari picked up a rock, and started compacting it's mass, augmenting it.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Twenty Line Break**

Tsuike continually slashed at it, diverting it's attention away from Akari. As it moved closer, Tsuike could feel the heat coming off it's body, unlike the other one he faced. "Is this because he absorbed Fiernace?" he thought, trying his best to come up with an explanation for the situation. Jumping backwards, he narrowly avoided a fireball, but didn't notice the paw coming from behind him. He tried to brace for it, but the blow was too strong, sending him sprawling away. Before he could rise to his feet, it pinned him down to the ground. At that instant, Tsuribe punched it in it's side as hard as she could, being propelled by Rani's lightning, it melting her boots and the sword she used to safely ride it. Tsuike rolled away to join them, but then looked back in horror. They had all been manuvered right in front of each other, with Akari holding a small black swirling sphere incased in light, her expression betraying the strain it was putting on her. Cerberus exhaled, two of the heads breathing fire while the Fiernace head created a tunnel of wind, trapping them in it and accelerating the fire stream. Akari dropped her sphere as they were covered in dust, trying to put up a barrier in time to protect them from the fire.

"IT WAS AN ADMIRABLE EFFORT PRINCESS, BUT IT'S JUST TOO MUCH POWER FOR YOU TO CONTAIN AND PROTECT YOURSELF AT THE SAME TIME." The third head said. Stopping his attack, he stood quietly, waiting for the dust to clear. "Don't tell me that was enough to kill you all, we have to have something to take home with us."

As the dust cleared, Tsuribe stood alone where Akari once had stood, holding the sphere. As she dashed at Cerberus, he shot fireballs from all mouths, trying to destroy his adversary. Tsuike came from behind Tsuribe and took her largest sword, jumping in front of her and cutting all the balls in half, the sword protected from the heat by Saya's forcefield. Tsuike then stopped and knelt, allowing Tsuribe to jump off his back. As the Cerberus tried to run, he didn't notice Rani wither her hands on his leg, pushing electricity through it to keep it from responding. He batted her away, but it was too late, Tsuribe landed on his back, and pushed the sphere down against it, as the light surrounding the sphere disappeared. The sphere began to float upwards, but Tsuribe pushed back down against it with all her might, forcing it downwards. A second light started to envelop the sphere and the Cerberus, with everything within it's influence beginning to be affected, including Tsuribe. At the last second, Tsuike jumped up and grabbed Tsuribe, as the field sealed itself around the Cerberus. It struggled against it's pull, but was crushed and compacted into the sphere itself. Akari guided the sphere to herself and manipulated the energy, until the sphere disappeared, turning itself back into a rock. "I was not sure...we would make that..." Akari began, before she collapsed.

**Novaus: Determination Op Chapter Twenty Line Break**

Akari woke up with a start, to see Kori sitting beside her. She was shocked for a second, then calmed down. "What happened? Why are we back on the ship?"

"You've been asleep for two days. Carrie won't allow...Tsui...in this room, that's the only reason he isn't in here." Kori was slightly amused when she said Tsui.

"I see, but that still does not answer my questions." Akari responded, slightly embarrassed that Kori called Tsuike by her nickname.

"I'll answer yours if you answer mine. Isn't that the final form of light energy? A black hole? Isn't forming one near a planet or solar system dangerous?"

Akari looked down, fiddling with her hands. "It was not a real one. I am far too weak to be able to form a real one. All it was, was a rock with a high enough mass to pull in organic matter. The fact that Tsuribe was able to sustain it and not be a light type is a testament to her power. She's definitely Tsuike's Sister, and Dayko's daughter."

"Thanks for the compliment, but I'm not quite so pleased to hear you take risks like that with your own life." Tsuribe was leaning against the wall, in Akari's blindspot. She was wearing clothes simliar to Tsuike's, but her pants were white, and her jacket was green. "You were planning on killing yourself with that sphere."

"No I was not. I was going to create a forcefield to keep me safe from the sphere's pull."

"Nice try, but I actually held that thing too, I felt it's pull. The energy that thing pulled out of me to maintain it's mass was extreme. If it weren't for Tsuike, I probably would have been killed by that thing too. How do you think he would have felt, being saved at the expense of someone else's life."

"Well, it did not turn out that way. So what are you going to do now? Are you going to tell him?"

Tsuribe pushed off the wall, then placed her hand on Akari's shoulder. "I don't see a reason to worry Tsuike with this, do you Kori?"

"Nah, I don't see a reason to tell him either. Just don't do it again. Oh, and Carrie had a message for you."

"Why did she not give it to me herself?"

"She said it was because someone named Lady Lionne was giving the message." When Kori said that, Akari stopped moving, she even stopped breathing. "She said, come home. All of you."

"So, we're on our way to Uragin." Akari said with a contented sigh.


	22. Epilogue

Epilogue

"My first night here, and I don't even get to take a look at the planet? And these clothes, why do I have to wear them? Come on, can't I just get out of this somehow?" Tsuike was complaining about his robes as the attendant pushed him towards the door, where Tsuribe stood quietly. "How can you just take this?"

"Anything is better than dust." Tsuribe shrugged. "Besides, I kinda like this dress, it feels so soft in comparison to the clothes we had to wear."

"And now, to introduce the those first in line for the throne, Tsuike Taryan Rai Novaus and Tsuribe Dayko Rai Novaus!" Dayko announced, as Tsuike and Tsuribe walked down the stairs, to stand in the middle of all of the guests. When she came down, she put a pendant around Tsuribe's neck. "Welcome home, my daughter." She said, looking her directly in the eyes. As everyone applauded, Tsuike blushed and looked away, while Tsuribe blushed and looked straight at the crowd. "And now, for the dance." A random prince came and took Tsuribe's hand to dance, as Kori walked up in her light pink dress.

"Kori...you look...incredible." Tsuike stammered.

"Hey, you wanna dance, Prince Tsuike?" Kori replied.

"Are you sure you're okay to move?"

"Yes, I'm fine, now lets dance." As Tsuike and Kori moved along to the music, it swelled as they were joined by the rest of the guests on the dance floor.

"Excuse me Kori, can I switch with you for a second?" A younger woman with silver hair tapped Kori on the shoulder.

"Umm, well, who are you?"

"Well, my name is..." Her sentence was interrupted by two people warping into the center of the dance floor. "How did you two get here? This place should be sealed, no teleporting in or out." The music stopped, as all eyes were on the two that just appeared. The man was wearing all black, with blades coming out of armbands on his wrists. The smaller figure was robed in black, holding an intricate red greatsword in her hands, with random plumes of fire coming off the sword. The person held it against themselves comfortingly, not threateningly.

"Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt the party. My name is Kaleb, and we just have a little business that we'd like to attend to."

Tsuike stepped forward. "You can't crash someone else's party, it's not right!" The crowd backed away, sensing the impending fight.

"Ah, so you are the next one in the lead. It's hard to believe that such an oblivious race is our greatest competition. Ready Angel?"

The little girl quietly pulled off her cloak, revealing long black hair, and a pink one piece dress. She was about the height of a small child, with a choker around her neck with a giant ruby dangling from it. On her head was a giant red ribbon, standing up somehow. She moved into battle position, letting the blade of the sword crash down into the ground, cracking the floor and sending fragments flying. She locked her light pink eyes onto Tsuike, then dashed at him, swinging her sword downward. Tsuike redirected her slash with his own sword and started to kick back at her, but was unable to bring himself to do it, due to her age. She swung wide, sending a small arrow of fire at him, after which she held out a hand and circular gates appeared, increasing the speed and the power of the arrow as it passed through. Tsuike tried to block it, but even after the arrow made contact with his sword, it still didn't dissipate, but continued to push him backwards, until Milia jumped overhead in her green dress and fired an arrow straight down as Akari pushed a forcefield up from below it, extinguishing the flame.

"We should stop her before she kills him!" Akari said to Kori. Kori, who was behind the girl, shot an ice shard at the girl's back. Just before it hit her, another greatsword, this one ice blue with cool condensation around it, appeared in midair, blocking the ice. It then stabbed itself into the ground sent spikes of ice along the ground toward Kori, prompting her to jump out of the way. At that moment Saya came down from the celing, attempting to get the jump on her. The girl then swung her sword and knocked Saya to the ground.

"Alright Angel, that's enough." The man said. However, she didn't stop fighting. The fire sword pulled her towards Saya, growing in strength and shooting off more plumes of fire, swinging itself at Saya mercilessly. Tsuike and the others tried to jump in to her rescue, but the sword sent out a shockwave of fire, knocking them all back, allowing it to continue it's assualt on Saya, who was trying all she could to crawl just barely out of range of each individual strike. However, she only had a certain amount of room until it backed her against the wall.

"SURTR, STOP!" The little girl shrieked, and the sword shrunk back to it's normal size, no longer dragging her around.

"Pathetic. You guys couldn't even take on one little girl." The man said. "Ah well, I guess it's time for us to continue on. As you were."

The woman with the silver hair from earlier crossed the crowd, whispered something in his ear, and handed him a disk. He looked at her for a second, then he and the girl teleported away.

"I need a vacation." Tsuike said, lifting Saya to her feet.


	23. Writing Notes WARNING: SPOILERS!

Writer's Notes: Novaus, Determination Op.

Alright, it's the author, Tsuike Novaus here, trying to explain some of the relationships and characters.

…

…

Well, I'm no good at filler...so I'm gonna get right into it.

**Tsuike Novaus**:

Obviously he's the main character. Tsuike is the easiest person for me to write for, since the way he reacts and speaks is the same way I would. Everything about Tsuike is actually according to my own personal preference. He has a kind personality, and he's very adventurous. He constantly desires to fix the problems everyone has, which gets him into trouble a lot. He also doesn't like to cause confrontation, which as you can see also gets him into constant trouble. Tsuike's Full name is Tsuike Taryan Rai Novaus.

**Kori Priene: **

Kori is my favorite out of all of the girls. She is actually the hardest to write for, because I always give her all of the best lines. I have to constantly rewrite her conversations, because Tsuike falls for her too hard. She's very sweet, strong, smart, and prideful, so she ends up rejecting Tsui a lot, even though she just wants to accept him. Originally, she and Akari weren't supposed to be at odds, but I needed to knock Kori down, since Akari is always coming after Kori.She has the deepest of everyone's backstory, even though it is not revealed until way later in the series.

**Relationship with Tsuike: **She and Tsuike are the closest romantically. Their relationship is based on both of their mutual shyness, not actually being able to fully express their feelings toward one another. It's pretty easy to tell how she feels about him though.

**Akari Lionne: **

Akari is the second girl. Her speech is supposed to be contraction-less, but due to sheer laziness(on my part), she starts using contractions about halfway through the story. She's kind of selfish, and is stuck up, but she is also very protective of everyone. Her motives are normally based on protection. **Relationship with Tsuike: **She's the overly clingy type that Tsuike just has to deal with. Her relationship with Tsuike is supposed to be one where she really cares, but she tries to lead him by the nose...but I hate relationships like that, so it doesn't come up that often in this story.

**Saya Drament:**

Saya is the third. She's sweet, and a little bit of a prankster. Since she's afraid of girls due to her past, it leads her to say some of the oddest things. She's an excellent cook, and a little shy, but she gets loud once she gets used to the group. She's a powerful fighter, on par with Tsuike at the moment. **Relationship with Tsuike: ** She's the shy girl who wants to voice her feelings, but doesn't. Her feelings are still fairly visible(Tsuike's pretty dense, so he doesn't notice.) to most of the people around her on a normal basis. I want Tsuike to be attracted by her sweetness, and for them to have that kind of "Aww..." relationship.

**Milia Eyon: **Milia is the fourth. She's my emotionally damaged girl. Milia is a tough outer shell, soft inside girl...but it's buried WAY down there. Milia's story was originally more depressing, but there's more than enough girls who have depressing stories...so I lightened it a little(Yes, her story was originally worse...that kind of shows how twisted my mind is.) Even though many people have stabbed her in the back, she oddly enough has a very trusting personality. She gets along with Saya VERY well.

**Relationship with Tsuike:** Milia is not used to human contact, so it makes MiliaxTsuike scenes very fun to write. I actually had to completely undo some conversations because I was having too much fun with her personality. Her EXTREME shyness attracts Tsuike, and the fact that he is interested in her as a person attracts her to Tsui. I'm not necessarily sure how I want their relationship to be quite yet.

**Kilsa Tonalia: **

Kilsa is the Fifth. She's the competitive one. She jumps to conclusions easily, loses her temper quickly, and always wears her heart on her sleeve (unbeknownst to her). Oddly enough, even though I (and by extension, Tsuike) am very competitive, it's hard to write for her without making her sound very bad (maybe that means I'm a bad person...hmm...anyway) . As a person, she's smart, beautiful, and always strives for the top position. She also has very low self esteem, because of how she always loses to her sister, no matter what she does.

**Relationship With Tsuike:** With both Tsuike and Kilsa being competitive, they also have a competitive relationship. It leads to the both of them ending up in close situations during the heat of competition. She's possessive of Tsui as well, but she doesn't take it as far as Akari does, so I like her a lot more.

**Jysa Tonalia:**

Jysa is the Sixth. I guess if I had to classify her, she's the free spirited one. She's almost the exact opposite of her twin Kilsa. She always thinks things through, keeps her temper in check, and hides her feelings well. She's super smart and athletic, but she doesn't care about prominence or anything like that. She's very insightful into people, which makes her kind of dangerous if you ask me. Even though she's so smart, Kori is still smarter than she is.

**Relationship With Tsuike: **I guess their relationship is more based on honesty and feeling how you want to feel. That's how I want to say it is, but with Jysa's personality, it's going to take a long time for her and Tsuike to even develop a relationship...(Wow...that sounds really bad on the Tsuike side...he's not like that!)

**Surani Angell:**

Rani is the Seventh. Classifying her, she's the happy, cheery girl. She's always hyper, and loves physical contact, which makes her jump on Tsuike and Tsuribe a lot. She's closest to Tsuribe, due to her being related to her. She's kinda fun to write for too, because she comes out of left field and is so sweet you can't help but like her. The fact that her DNA map is so similar to Tsuike's and Tsuribe's is important for upcoming stories.

**Relationship With Tsuike: **She's sweet, and Tsuike loves that. She also like physical contact, which Tsuike should love too, which makes him sound like a pervert. I just love writing for her, then erasing what I wrote...but you haven't read the next story yet, so you don't know that. Their relationship is kinda flirty, but Rani is also the most open with her feelings, so she may blow ahead of everyone else..

**Dayko Novaus:**

Dayko is Tsuike's mother. She's strong, smart, and a little silly. She's the queen of Uragin, and she's modeled sort of after my own mother. There is a lot more to her, but I can't give too much away without ruining the future story. She is extremely intelligent, very powerful, and loves her children. She and her husband on the surface seem to have a very professional relationship, but they're both very loving to each other. Dayko's full name is Dayko Lionne Rai Novaus.

**Taryan Novaus:**

Taryan is Tsuike's father. He seems stern, but he's actually very kind. He's actually modeled after my own father as well. His range of powers is actually wider than any of the Urians, including Tsuike. He actually doesn't have any Urian blood in his veins, which means that his marriage to Dayko was originally political, but they ended up actually loving each other. He's intelligent as well, and stronger than his wife physically, whereas she is better at special attacks and energy manipulation than he is.

**Tsuribe Novaus:**

Tsuribe is Tsuike's older twin sister. She isn't as book smart as Tsuike, due to her upbringing, but she is a lot stronger in battle. They're abilities are technically equal, but she is stronger. Her personality is a lot more fierce, and maybe a little stuck up. She's always wary of people. Almost everyone in the story has a mate(if you don't count Tsuike) but in all honesty, I want to say her personality will probably prevent her from getting one. That and the fact that I don't think I could handle giving my sister away. She develops a lot faster than Tsuike does, which will be shown later. Tsuribe's full name is Tsuribe Dayko Rai Novaus.

**Carrie:**

Akari's Ship. In all actuality, she didn't even exist until the pad officially hit the paper. She wasn't supposed to be an important character, but she ended up being a semi important one anyway. She is actually a copy of a clone of Dayko's original ship. Her personality is also that of a trickster, as she picks on Tsuike and the others, except Akari, who she's subservient to.

**Carrina:**

She actually wasn't supposed to be mentioned this early, but there is something in this story that requires for her to be tied in(not telling you what, D:) So her personality isn't gonna be explained.

**Important Scenes:**

Obviously, not all scenes in this story are important, but some are a lot more important continuity wise than others, with some events not being explained for books down the line. The important events to be remembered in this story are:

Prologue:

Tsuna's launching(very important detail)

The two figures fighting (very important detail)

Chapter One:

Kori in the forest, stab wound.(very important detail)

Chapter Three:

Seretion's Appearance

Chapter Four:

Tsuike's indecision(probably the most important detail in this story)

Chapter Six:

Akari kisses Tsuike(Tsui's(well, everybody's, as well as the first of the story) first kiss)

Chapter Nine:

Tsuike meets Saya

Saya's backstory

First interaction with the Chaos phenomena

Chapter Ten:

Tsuike gets another sword

Mr. and Ms. Scientia are introduced

Taryan, Tsuike's father is introduced

Classroom scene(sort of important, it explains the universe they live in)

Chapter Eleven:

Milia and Falian are introduced

First run in with a Zexis

Kori's first dream about her past.

Chapter Twelve:

Coinsert machine lesson(Super incredibly important part of the story)

Milia's backstory

Kori's 2nd dream(If you're smart, you should have figured out her backstory, at least a little bit from her comments here)

Chapter Thirteen:

Everyone's personal Zexis are introduced

Seretion's modification of Exx

Tsuike's fight against Wesley, and subsequient arrest of Wesley and Esten

Measurement of power

Kori's 3rd dream

Chapter Fourteen:

Fiernace's report

Lady Novaus, Tsuike's Grandmother, head of the LOIB, arrives on Tackard, names Falian King

Evening Star Virus Strikes

Milia's leaving Tackard, Falian prepares something

Chapter Fifteen:

Kori passes out, talks to a girl about Unos

Tsuike's friends visit, bringing the Scientia's to keep an eye on Tsuike and everyone

Tsuike looses to Issac

Dayko and Carrina fight Baels

Kori's 4th dream

Chapter Sixteen:

Jysa and Kilsa are introduced

Dinner at the Tonalia's house

Tonalia family introduced

Nicole's job explained slightly

The loss of Kori's Diary

Chapter Seventeen:

In all honesty, the entire chapter is important to the series. I'd recommend reading this one for a reason

(a small knowledge of latin is useful for deciphering Nuos terminology)

Chapter Eighteen:

Fiernace's surprise

Tsuike's fight with Tsuribe

Chapter Nineteen:

Kori's question is answered

Surani and Tsuribe are officially introduced

Surani's backstory

Chapter Twenty:

Fiernace's Betrayal

Tsuribe's Identity revealed

Akari's Power

Tsuribe destroys Cerberus Fiernace

Epilogue:

Tsuike and Tsuribe's full names

Tsuribe's pendant

Angel's fight

Surtr loses control

Kaleb gets disk


End file.
